The One Man Apocalypse
by SinbadThe3rd
Summary: The Four Horsemen are gone, and yet the world lives on through their sacrifice. While they may be gone, their power stays hidden and sealed away just waiting for the one worthy of wielding it so that the world will not destroy itself once more as it did in the past. And soon it will be time for the new Horseman to protect the world once again, his name... Naruto Uzumaki...
1. The End of an Era

(A/N: For anyone who is wondering why I keep making these small chapters for different stories, it's because I want to remember the ideas before I forget them as well as make sure that I get the name I want for the story before someone else does. So that's why I do this sort of thing. Plus it gives me a chance to work on something else whenever I'm having writers block for another story. So enjoy)

The world as we know it is not the way that it started very long ago. In the beginning, there was nothing but the Void, and out of the Void came a creature of vast power who became known as the Creator. The Creator made three separate realms to keep balance between the various races that would inhabit them. While only two became occupied, the third was meant for them to come together and live in peace. But that is not how the world played out.

The first realm became known as Heaven and was the home to the creatures who became known as Angels, yet these angels were bred of war and battle instead of the angels the world knows to this day. They used technology to their advantage and used it well to make weapons and armor to help them with their everlasting war with the beings of the realm that was their polar opposite.

The second realm became known as Hell and was the home to vile creatures that only lived to sow misery and destruction wherever they would dare to go. These became known as Demons, and unlike the Angels in the realm above, they used brute strength, greater numbers, as well as far more powerful magic then the angels were ever able to accomplish alone.

The war between Heaven and Hell waged on through the ages, and as it did, the Creator was heartbroken that all that he had tried to accomplish was being undone. Yet new hope bore fruit within him as he saw a new form of life be born from the constant fighting, like a flower on the battlefield. These new creatures became known as humans and while they weren't strong or as intelligent as the demons or angels surrounding them, the Creator saw a bright future ahead of them. But the angels and demons saw them as a threat in the future and sought out to kill them before their lives had truly even begun. So by sacrificing his own life energy, he made the Charred Council, three rock like entities with the power to mediate the realms themselves. And so humanity was given their own realm while the angels and demons stuck to their own.

And yet during the war, some angels and demons had somehow found themselves attracted to one another and mated. The children born of their forbidden union became known as the Nephilim, and their power was great. They had the intelligence of the Angels and the brute strength and magical know how of the demons. Soon their numbers were great enough to conquer anyone of the realms they chose, and yet they chose the realm of man to make their own. Soon the slaughter of humanity had begun, and there wasn't a force that could stop them. Yet within the bloodshed of humanity, four of the Nephilim became distraught at what their kind was doing and fled the battlefield and made their way towards the Charred Council for guidance. They were offered the chance to gain the powered needed to fight off their own kind, but in doing so they would forever serve the council. They accepted these terms and became know to all as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They then set out and slaughtered the rest of the Nephilim as ordered, thus saving the remainder of humanity from extinction. And sending a message to the angels and demons to remain within their own realms until the time where the Seven newly minted Seals of the Apocalypse were broken. Each seal would become broken when the event engraved onto it as prophesized came to pass.

Yet with power breeds corruption, and the Charred Council was no exception to this fact. Soon they set things in motion so that they would be able to recreate the realms in their own way instead of the way it was meant to be. They started the process by first falsely summoning War to the realm of man by making him hear the call of Apocalypse, when in fact the Seventh Seal had not been broken. Because of their actions, humanity died out completely without a trace, for Hell won the war and the soldiers of Heaven were scattered into small pockets of resistance.

Yet the story of humanity did not stop there, for War's brother Death set out to prove his brother's innocence, and set out to bring back mankind to free him. In his travels, he learned about how his brother was falsely accused and was going to confront the Charred Council with the rest of the horsemen, and yet before he could he was forced to sacrifice himself in the ancient object known as the Well of Souls to bring them back. Yet luck was on his side, for shortly afterwards, War, with the help of an angel, broke the Seventh Seal and called forth Death from the Void that he had hurled himself into all for the sake of freeing his brother. Once called, the truth of what the Council was know to all, and instead of them fighting one another, they formed an alliance and attacked the Councils so that it would never happen again.

The war was long and bloody, and most of the alliance fell to the Council's power, and yet with the combined might of the Horsemen, they were able to defeat them once and for all., But the damage had been done and had become too severe for them. As they lay dying from their wounds, they all smiled in the fact that at least the world has a chance to be reborn. For within the war, the entirety of the race of angels and demons had been wiped out, and the world was without gods to help it along. So what would become of it would humanities own doing. With their dying breaths they summoned forth the only living demon left alive by the name of Vulgrim, who himself wasn't really evil, just a merchant of sorts that drove a hard bargain. The each handed him an item infused with their power, so that just maybe, there would be a Horseman in the future who could stop the world from destroying itself once more. War offered up his strength in the form of his gauntlets with the power to control the elements themselves. Strife offered up his two pistols, enchanted so that they never would run out of ammunition and able to penetrate all armor that stood between the bullet and the flesh of its target. Fury offered up her whip sword, a versatile thing with many functions that the wielder would be able to use in all sorts of situations. And last but not least, Death himself offered up the most out of the four. He left his horse Despair, for what is a horseman without a horse? As well as his faithful companion, his crow Dusk. And lastly he left his scythes infusing it with the power to allow the wielder to summon forth the Reaper Form and lay waste to all enemies that were arrogant enough to attempt to fight death itself...

After they all breathed their final breaths, their lifeless bodies fell forward. And from the body of death, his mask fell of his face away from his body. Vulgrim picked up the mask and made good on his word, as he formed a chamber where the bodies of the horsemen laid, and entombed each of them with their own casket. Once they had been buried, the gifts they offered where placed on an alter in the center of the room and were sealed away so that one day, someone who was worthy of this power would take up the mantle of the Horseman once more.

Ages would pass before the tomb would ever be found and the person worthy of such power would wield it. And that person would become the known as the One Man Apocalypse...


	2. Death's Revival

(A/N: I took a bit from VFSnake's story 'Will of an Uzumaki' to start off this story. I give credit where it is due as well as ask for permission to use these segments when I do. Plus I changed key details so that it isn't exactly the same as the original story…)

They say death is the next stage of life. That it is a natural part of us and the Universe as a whole. I can see that to some extent. I really do. If the death of a person were in fact one of natural causes. Mine...was not!

(Konoha-13 Years after Kyuubi's Attack)

It was raining heavily in Konoha. It was an angry rain. An angry storm. The Heavens themselves lashed out village with lightning and thunder to further show its displeasure of the events transpiring below. For within the village, in the place where the execution square was located, a beaten, bloodied body with blonde hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks was forced to his knees. In front of him was Sasuke Uchiha, wearing a sling on his arm for the arm that was broken by Naruto when they fought at the Valley of the End, and had a smirk on his face at seeing the Jinchuriki before him was in such a position.

"Uzumaki Naruto, for your crimes against Konoha, and being a threat to the village as a whole...I sentence you to death by Chidori to the heart by Sasuke. Anything you would like to say before I give the order to kill you?" said Tsunade with Naruto looking up at her and scowled.

"Yeah. I do, but I doubt you would let me say them because deep down you're a fucking arrogant old hag," replied Naruto before he was struck in the face by Tsunade who had a look of utter fury on her face.

"You will respect me brat. Even before your death, I won't allow such disrespect," said Tsunade with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Respect? You demand respect, yet don't give it where respect is due. Such a hypocrite. Of course, what would you expect from someone who won't get his hands dirty directly and spends their life wasting away drinking and gambling because of a simple few bad memories? The things that I have had to face in my entire life dwarf any and all of your so called _horrible_ memories tenfold and yet I still didn't break and become a sniveling arrogant cunt such as you have become," remarked Naruto before he was hit again by Tsunade again with much greater force.

"Enough! Kill him before he says something that displeases me even further than he has already," replied Tsunade before giving the order for Sasuke to perform the hand signs for the assassination jutsu and end his life.

Behind and all around them, the crowd watched with anticipation. With glee. With joy! They were finally going to see the demon brat die. For them, it was a long time coming, and not a moment too soon in their minds. They had been calling for this day since the time of the Sandaime Hokage, and only now with the Gondaime did they get their greatest wish.

"You think this will end me Granny? Well you better pray that it does. You better pray to Kami and the Shinigami that they can keep my spirit locked away. Because if they can't, I will do everything in my power to come back to Konoha, and see to it this place burns to the ground with all the power of the rage in my soul!" stated Naruto with Tsunade glancing at him with a look that showed a slight amount of fear.

"Unlike my Hokage predecessors, I believe when you die, you will stay dead, and spirits have no power over the world of the living," remarked Tsunade with Naruto smirking at her.

"Is that why you constantly fear your own death? You obviously do since you are always hiding your true age behind that Genjutsu since your real appearance is ugly as sin," mocked Naruto with a chuckle despite the pain it caused him.

"Kill him," commanded Tsunade coldly while the Sasuke had finally finished charging his attack. He charged forward and pierced right through Naruto's chest, puncturing through the heart and making his death all the more certain. And to Naruto's slight horror, by killing him Sasuke's eyes began to bleed slightly as his Sharingan morphed into the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Don't feel so bad dobe," said Sasuke with an evil grin on his face as he saw Naruto look at him in horror for that split second, "with your death you can honestly say that you did something worth something in life by helping me achieve the next level with my Sharingan. I win dobe."

"No," coughed out Naruto as he felt his life bleed out from him at a rapid pace, "I did since even though you had all the training while I had the bare minimum, I was still able to beat you and drag your weak ass back to this village. I'm only in this position due to others torturing me to get me in this state. Even though you have the power you sought after, the memory of your defeat will forever haunt your mind until the day you die and with that fact alone, I can die happy knowing it will cause you nothing but rage since I am stronger, even in death." And with that being said, Naruto laughed with the last of his strength and slipped into the darkness that was death...

And so ended the tragic story of Naruto Uzumaki, but as I said before, death is the next stage of life…

As the cold embrace of death enveloped him, Naruto thought about how the people of Konoha turned on him so easily on the Hokage's command. Not just the usual people either. But those Naruto knew like Anko, Ibiki, Iruka, the Clan Heads, the Jounin senseis, and the Rookies sans Hinata.

Thirteen years ago, Minato Namikaze who was the Fourth Hokage at the time had sacrificed his life to seal away the Kyūbi into his newborn son, Naruto. Before his death, he told his predecessor to treat Naruto as a hero for holding the powerful Nine Tails Demon Fox inside his little body. However, nobody listened to his pleas and soon, Naruto became the most hated person in the entire Village. The blond child was treated as an outlet for the many Civilians and Ninja who lost loved ones during the Kyuubi's destruction all those years ago. All the Civilians fully believed that Naruto was the Demon in human form while some Ninja knew the truth about how seals work, yet they still use Naruto as a punching bag to let out their pain of losing their families and friends without caring about the truth.

Naruto's life began a literal hell for him as he is the target of the entire Village's scorn. By the age of four, he was kicked out of the orphanage he was staying, in the middle of winter and was forced to live in the cold streets for two years until the Hokage; Hiruzen Sarutobi finally found him and gave him his own apartment. Not like it was anything good with its crumpled wallpaper, weak and unstable floorboards and ratty furniture.

He was forced to buy instant ramen for almost every meal since shops won't let him buy food and f they did, they overpriced it or it was mostly rotten. The same thing can be said about the clothing stores who only sell Naruto bright orange jumpsuit with the hopes of him dying while on a mission.

As every other child celebrated their birthdays in cheer and joy, Naruto spent his in anxiety and fear. Every year on the tenth of October, everyone would celebrate the day that Minato Namikaze defeated the Nine Tails. It was also the day when a majority of the Villagers would get drunk and become braver on finding and causing untold pain to Naruto. Whenever they find him, they beat him, cut him, burnt him, choked him, electrocuted him, drowned and even buried him alive on a few cases. Only at that moment when the Villagers are about to finish the job did the ANBU assigned to protect him intervene on his behalf. They would then drop Naruto off to the hospital which was full of doctors and nurses who weren't afraid to drug him in his sleep. Funny how the cause of his suffering was the reason why he was still alive since the Kyuubi's Chakra was the only thing that healed Naruto's wounds and eliminated all the deadly toxins that may find themselves in his veins.

Even through all of the years of literal torture, Naruto never broke from it. He fought on, continued his dream on becoming Hokage and hopefully gaining the respect of the entire Leaf Village.

When Naruto found out about the Kyūbi being sealed inside his body, he didn't break…

When Naruto's childhood crush continued to reject his confessions and even beat him for them, he didn't break…

When Naruto's sensei ignored him in favor of training the arrogant Uchiha, he didn't break…

When everyone ridiculed Naruto and mocked him for having no chance against fighting Neji in the Chunin Exams, he didn't break…

His will never broke, even after all the many hardships he has gone through in his life…

Not until the Sasuke Retrieval Mission did his will finally snap…

Sasuke Uchiha had left the Village in favor of going to Orochimaru who promised the young avenger power that would allow him to kill his older brother Itachi and avenge his fallen Clan. Sasuke didn't even think twice when he left and ran off towards Rice Country for the chance of power. The recently named Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju sent a team of Genin and one Chunin to chase after the rogue Uchiha and bring him back to the Village. The team consisted of Neji Hyuga, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka and finally, Naruto Uzumaki. They had all met different types of resistance in the form of the Sound Four but they all succeeded in the end. At the end of it all, Naruto was the only one who made it to fight against Sasuke.

(Valley of the End)

"CHIDORI!" roared Sasuke who was currently in the second level of his Curse Mark which Orochimaru had kindly given to him during the second portion of the Chunin Exams. Sasuke's skin was now dark-grey and his hair was now longer with a new shade of dark-blue added to it. Web claw-shape wings stuck out of his back and was helping him to fly towards Naruto with his Curse Mark enhanced Chidori that was poised to strike through Naruto's chest.

"RASENGAN!" roared Naruto in his One Tail state. His once blue eyed were now blood red with foxlike slots for his pupils. His whisker marks have Borden darker and his canines have grown slightly larger and sharper. Surrounding the blond is a cloak of red Demon Chakra that has taken the shape of a fox. A single tail of Chakra swings as Naruto leaps at Sasuke with his Kyūbi-enhanced Rasengan.

Both Jutsus clash in the center between the two large statues and a few moments later, their Chakra surrounded each other and joined together to form a black dome that suddenly explodes in a blinding white light. In the light, Naruto and Sasuke were still competing for dominance over each other. Both pulled back their respective arms with their deadly A-Rank Jutsus on hand for one last strike against one another. Sasuke's aimed straight towards Naruto's chest or more importantly, his heart.

Naruto on the other hand, wondered if he should go for Sasuke's chest or his forehead. Deciding to finish the fight in one go, he throws his Rasengan towards Sasuke's chest. Sasuke's Chidori barely scraped off Naruto's clothes before the blond leans his body away from the lightning hand. While Sasuke's Jutsu missed, Naruto's hits dead on into the Uchiha's chest. Sasuke screamed in pain as the spinning ball of Chakra grinds into his chest, violently. With one last battle cry, Naruto pushed harder and launches Sasuke into the statue leg of his ancestor, Madara Uchiha.

Naruto waited for Sasuke to get back up and continue their fight but with all of his Chakra and energy spent, Sasuke isn't getting back up. Realizing that the fight is over, Naruto pulls back his head and roars out into the sky with enough force to shake the very ground he is standing on. In Naruto's fit of excitement, he doesn't notice an extra tail of Chakra that is swinging alongside his other one.

What else he doesn't realize is that not only is everyone in a fifty kilometer radius feeling his power but so is another being, one that has waited countless centuries for a soul like his to arise…

(Leaf - Prison)

Deep underground in the Leaf Village, where only the worst of the worst are held prisoner is a familiar blond thirteen year old who is currently shirtless with the only piece of clothing he has on being a pair of tattered orange pants. He has chains wrap around his wrists and is hanging off of them. With no shirt on, there is nothing to hide the many deep scars that adorn his skin and flesh. The worst one being a fist-size scar that is near his heart.

"Shizune, Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Sasuke, Ino, Choji, Yugao, Genma, Iruka, Ayame, Teuchi, Anko, Konoha-..." he mutters to himself while thinking about all the people who he hopes to die a painful death.

Just a day ago, he had returned to the Village with Sasuke with him. He expected some sort of greeting or celebration for him bringing back Sasuke. After all, he is the last Uchiha after all, other than Itachi of course. What he hadn't expected was to be immobilized and quickly knocked out by ANBU. Earlier on, he found himself in his current position with no shirt, headband or the necklace that he won off of Tsunade. That's when Jiraiya and Tsunade decided to grace him with their presence and that is also when he found out about everything.

They never cared for him…

They were in reality using him!

Turns out that both Sannin were his godparents, who were supposed to take care of him if something happened to his father and mother. That didn't happen because Jiraiya thought of Minato as a son while Tsunade thought of Kushina as a daughter so when they both died to protect their child that held the cause of their deaths, the two Sannin didn't see a reason for taking care of him. It went well since Hiruzen wanted a way to use him as a weapon for them to use, in case of another Village attacking during their weakened state.

For thirteen years, Naruto believed in everything the old man said. How he should learn to forgive and forget. How he should try his best to become the Hokage. All the while, laughing at the thought of having him wrapped around their fingers like an obedient little puppy.

Tsunade told him of how she told everyone his status as a Jinchuriki and like she expected, the populace were on their feet, demanding for his death, especially after bringing back their rogue Uchiha in his beaten state, and how she was going to grant their wish in an attempt to allow Sasuke to gain more power from his death. She even allowed his former friends to visit him in his cell to do as they pleased towards him.

They weren't too happy to see him, to say the least…

They all looked at him with such hate that Naruto was wondering if they even thought one second that he was their friend. They mocked him, spat on him and even the fewer brave ones like Kiba and Tenten throw a lunch or weapon his way, not like the ANBU guards even cared. Even his supposed sensei came to visit him but all he did was mock him and what made it worse is that he did it without even looking away from his Icha Icha book.

What truly hurt is how Jiraiya laughed at his idea to become Hokage and gain knowledge meant for who he is. To make it worst, he summoned the old toad, Pa and asked him to wipe Naruto's name off of the contract. The old toad didn't even think twice when he did it, making the pain all the more intense.

Now, he waits for his coming future. Tsunade has been in a cheerful mood so she was happy enough to explain her plans for Naruto. Her great, yet sickening plan was to have Sasuke execute him so as to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan. With that, she believed that they would become the most powerful Village for generations to come. To soften him up for Sasuke, they gave him to Anko, who Naruto had thought would be on his side since she knew that she is ostracized as well because of the Curse Mark that Orochimaru gave her. He was wrong in this case, since Anko found sick joy in burning and whipping the blond Jinchuriki with the best of her abilities. It turned out that by doing so, she was gaining the respect of her fellow citizens in the Village so she was willing to make one in a similair position suffer just to make her own life a little easier.

With that future to come and Anko's daily tortures, the Leaf Village finally did the impossible…

They broke Naruto Uzumaki's will…

"...Neji, Lee, Guy, Shino, Kurenai, Hin-"

 _"I love you!"_

Naruto's cold dead blue eyes gained a slight spark to them as a memory resurfaced. Just a few hours ago, the very first person, let alone a girl, told him that she loved him. Of course, he shouldn't have believed her but with the way she said it with so much conviction, there was no was no way he could deny the truth in her words. To further prove her declaration, she even kissed him. Him! The Demon child that none loved.

"Hinata..." said Naruto as he felt the darkness completely consume him as the memories ended.

"You've met with a terrible fate haven't you," said a voice that caused Naruto to open his eyes and see that he was floating in an endless void of darkness. He wasn't sure where the hell he was since there was nothing there to gain any form of insight of where he could possibly be.

"Who's there," shouted Naruto as he heard his voice echo off into the distance. And out of the darkness came a figure unlike anything he had ever seen. It was a demonic looking skeleton with horns. He had rings on each of his fingers and a backpack on his back as well as a large belt that kept his tattered pants from falling off him. "Who are you?"

"I have gone by many names throughout history boy," said the creature, "in this age I am known simply as the Shinigami."

"So you are the Shinigami," asked Naruto, "you are the one responsible for all that has befallen me."

"That title was given to me by humans who summoned me through means that I had at that point of time unheard of. My real name is Vulgrim and unlike what the legends say about me, I have no true power over life and death as people have said I do over the years. I am nothing more than a merchant of death that trades in souls."

"If that is true then why did you seal the Kyuubi within me?"

"As I said, I deal in souls. Many a man has summoned me throughout time to barter their soul for various things. And if is within my power to do so I grant them whatever it is they desire and collect upon their soul when the time is right."

"So where am I going since I'm dead?" asked Naruto with a sigh, "to hell where everyone from my village said I belonged, or maybe Kami has seen fit to cut me a break and send me to heaven since my life has been nothing short of a living hell since the day I was born."

"You are wrong about many things my young soul," chuckled Vulgrim as he clicked his fingers together as he smiled, "the spiritual plain is in an order of disarray and has been so for many years."

"How is this so?" asked Naruto in shock, "where are the gods to keep things in order as is in their job?"

"There are no gods in the world," said Vulgrim, "they died in the war of Armageddon long ago and there has been none since."

"So how is there balance of any sort if there are no gods to keep it? Is there even a heaven or a hell to speak of?"

"There is both a heaven as well as a hell. And Kami does exist, but he is no god, but only the purest soul to ever exist that ascended to heaven and became a beacon of sorts for those with souls not fully corrupted by sins. Those souls take the journey and find heaven on their own while those who can't feel the beacon of heaven endlessly roam the spiritual plains until the end of times. For while there is a hell, no one can enter it."

"And why can't anyone enter hell? I'm pretty sure that there are souls that are pure evil that would make a beacon to attract dark souls like them."

"While that may be true," said Vulgrim as he thought about that, "there is no one to process the souls themselves to send them to the proper area of hell that they shall remain."

"So if I'm not going to neither heaven nor hell," asked Naruto in curiosity on where this conversation was going, "why are you here in the first place since I died by Chidori to the heart and no one summoned you with a jutsu."

"I have come to make you an offer that I highly doubt one such as you will refuse. For the world needs someone like you to help regain the balance it once had."

"What exactly do you me by 'someone like me'?"

"I have searched for a soul like yours for many years. A tormented soul that would know the true feeling of Death itself since you have felt its cold embrace more times than any human has ever or will ever have in their lifetime."

"You set this up in some way," growled Naruto in anger, "you eagerly helped my father seal the demon within me knowing full well that I would become hated by many and suffer as I have done all my life, all so I would become this soul that you wanted, and for what?!"

"The world as we know it is not the way that it started very long ago. In the beginning, there was nothing but the Void, and out of the Void came a creature of vast power that became known as the Creator. The Creator made three separate realms to keep balance between the various races that would inhabit them. While only two became occupied, the third was meant for them to come together and live in peace. But that is not how the world played out."

"Why are you telling me this," asked Naruto as his anger never left him since he didn't like to think that his life had just been one big scheme for a demonic entity

"All in good time young soul, now where was I? Oh yes! The first realm became known as Heaven and was the home to the creatures that became known as Angels, yet these angels were bred of war and battle instead of the angels the world believes they are like in the modern day. They used technology far beyond your own to their advantage and used it well to make weapons and armor to help them with their everlasting war with the beings of the realm that was their polar opposite.

"And by polar opposite you mean hell right?"

"Yes I do. Not stop interrupting me so that I may finish this story. The second realm became known as Hell and was the home to vile creatures that only lived to sow misery and destruction wherever they would dare to go. These became known as Demons, and unlike the Angels in the realm above, they used brute strength, greater numbers, as well as far more powerful magic then the angels were ever able to accomplish alone. The war between Heaven and Hell waged on through the ages, and as it did, the Creator was heartbroken that all that he had tried to accomplish was being undone. Yet new hope bore fruit within him as he saw a new form of life be born from the constant fighting, like a flower on the battlefield. These new creatures became known as humans and while they weren't strong or as intelligent as the demons or angels surrounding them, the Creator saw a bright future ahead of them. But the angels and demons saw them as a threat in the distant future and sought out to kill them before their lives had truly even begun. So by sacrificing his own life energy, he made the Charred Council, three rock like entities with the power to mediate the realms themselves. And so humanity was given their own realm while the angels and demons stuck to their own. And yet during the war, some angels and demons had somehow found themselves attracted to one another and mated. The children born of their forbidden union became known as the Nephilim, and their power was great. They had the intelligence of the Angels and the brute strength and magical know how of the demons. Soon their numbers were great enough to conquer anyone of the realms they chose, and yet they chose the realm of man to make their own. Soon the slaughter of humanity had begun, and there wasn't a force that could stop them. Yet within the bloodshed of humanity, four of the Nephilim became distraught at what their kind was doing and fled the battlefield and made their way towards the Charred Council for guidance. They were offered the chance to gain the powered needed to fight off their own kind, but in doing so they would forever serve the council. They accepted these terms and became known to all as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They then set out and slaughtered the rest of the Nephilim as ordered, thus saving the remainder of humanity from extinction. And sending a message to the angels and demons to remain within their own realms until the time where the seven newly minted Seals of the Apocalypse were broken. Each seal would become broken when the event engraved onto it as prophesized came to pass.

"So where are these Nephilim that you speak of, since the world is still here and the Apocalypse hasn't happened?"

"That is where you are wrong since the Apocalypse has already happened many years ago, way before. You see with power breeds corruption, and the Charred Council was no exception to this fact. Soon they set things in motion so that they would be able to recreate the realms in their own way instead of the way it was meant to be. They started the process by first falsely summoning War to the realm of man by making him hear the call of Apocalypse, when in fact the Seventh Seal had not been broken. Because of their actions, humanity died out completely without a trace, for Hell won the war and the soldiers of Heaven were scattered into small pockets of resistance. Yet the story of humanity did not stop there, for War's brother Death set out to prove his brother's innocence, and set out to bring back mankind to free him. In his travels, he learned about how his brother was falsely accused and was going to confront the Charred Council with the rest of the horsemen, and yet before he could he was forced to sacrifice himself in the ancient object known as the Well of Souls to bring them back. Yet luck was on his side, for shortly afterwards, War, with the help of an angel, broke the Seventh Seal and called forth Death from the Void that he had hurled himself into all for the sake of freeing his brother. Once called, the truth of what the Council was known to all, and instead of them fighting one another, they formed an alliance and attacked the Councils so that it would never happen again. The war was long and bloody, and most of the alliance fell to the Council's power, and yet with the combined might of the Horsemen, they were able to defeat them once and for all. But the damage had been done and had become too severe for them. As they lay dying from their wounds, they all smiled in the fact that at least the world has a chance to be reborn. For within the war, the entirety of the race of angels and demons had been wiped out, and the world was without gods to help it along. With their dying breaths they summoned me to do one thing for them. They each handed me an item infused with their power, so that just maybe, there would be a Horseman in the future who could stop the world from destroying itself once more."

"So what does this story have anything to do with me in any way?"

"I have searched long for a soul like your own to pass on the mantle of a Horseman. One of the four and if I was correct in my actions you will become the new horseman of Death."

"And what makes you think that I would become a pawn in your sick game?"

"I thought for certain that you wouldn't pass up a chance at revenge for the actions the villagers," chuckled Vulgrim.

"How would it be possible for me to take revenge against them if I am dead," asked Naruto who at this point not truly buying into whatever Vulgrim was selling him.

"When the seals of the Apocalypse were intact, the Horsemen were forbidden from entering the realm of man due to the barrier that only could be breached once they were broken. The seals have been broken for a long time and there are no more Makers to forge new ones, so the barrier that would hinder you has never been resurrected."

"Alright," said Naruto who now understood that with this promised power, he would be able to bring balance to the world with the death of his old village, "you sold me. So what happens now? Do you give me this power that you mentioned yourself?"

"Oh no," laughed Vulgrim as he pointed behind Naruto towards the door that had just materialized behind him, "I can only send you through the doorway, it is up to you to pass the test of the Horsemen and claim their power for your own. But as I said before, you are the perfect spirit to embody the Horseman of Death and that is why I am offering you this chance in the first place. Now good luck young spirit, and may our paths cross once more in the future." Vulgrim then disappeared as if he had never been there to begin with. Naruto turned around and saw a massive set of doors with a skull split down the middle.

He walked up towards them and pushed it inwards with all his strength, since the doors weighed a ton each. Once he did, he walked in and the doors slammed shut behind him. Inside was a large room with four statues that perfectly resembled the Horsemen that had perished long ago down to the finer detail and in front of them was the coffins that held their deceased bodies. In the opposite corner of the room there was a shrine that contained various weapons unlike any he had ever seen in his lifetime. Unsure on what to do here, he walked towards the weapons on the opposite side of the room, but he only made it halfway to is destination before he was stopped in his tracks by a set of runes that appeared below him, the force of which caused him to fall to the ground in pain as a power beyond his own description entered him and prodded through his memories as well as his very soul. The pain was immense and he felt as if his very being was on fire, but shortly after the pain started, he felt a cooling sensation start to creep up from his feet until it reached his head. He looked at himself and saw that his spirit had solidified into a flesh and blood body. He flexed his muscles and felt the raw power that now had become his own. His skin had become far paler then he wanted, but he was just happy to have a body once more.

" _You have passed our tests young Horseman_ ," said a voice, that soon materialized into the spirit of Death. Along with him also arose the spirits of the others, War, Strife, and Fury.

" _ **Like his fellow Horsemen, Death is of a race known as Nephilim – among the most powerful beings in the Universe. When Mankind was given the prize of Eden, Absalom – leader of the Nephilim – led his armies against Heaven and Hell in an attempt to steal it back. For this crime, the Charred Council condemned the Nephilim to destruction. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were granted a reprieve from this fate on the condition they aid the Council's victory over their kin. The Horsemen accepted, but it was Death who bore the greatest burden of guilt for the near extinction of his race. Donning his iconic mask to represent his role as executioner on the day he slaughtered his brethren, he has not removed it since."**_ Whispered an echoing voice from out of the blue…

" _You are the perfect candidate to embody the mantle of Death,"_ said Death _, "For you have tasted death itself far more than any other human has ever done so in their lifetime. Not even torture victims have gone through as much as you have. It is for this reason that I grant you my power as well as my title. Let the world fear the name Death as they have in the past once more."_ And as he said that, Naruto felt his hand surge with power and solidifies into a sharp clawed gauntlet, as well as two scythes once wielded by death itself flying forward and attached them onto his belt.

" _You have known fury for so long against those who would hurt an innocent soul for their own sinful gain are worthy of my power, until the time where the perfect candidate of Fury can be found."_ Said Fury as her blade whip wrapped itself around his waist like a belt. _"Now go forth and seek out the one worthy of becoming the Horseman of Fury."_

" _You have known great strife after learning the truth behind the lies that have been told to you your entire life,"_ said Strife as his twin pistols Mercy and Redemption fastened themselves to Naruto's belt in their new gun holsters that materliazed to hold them, " _until the time where the perfect candidate of Strife can be found, wield my weapons as well as my power. Now go forth and seek out the one worthy of becoming the Horseman of Strife."_

" _You have known War at such an early age,"_ said War.

"But I have never been in a war in my life," said Naruto as he was confused about that.

" _War takes on many forms,"_ explained War, _"and you have been in a war of survival since the day you were born. Against all odds you have survived to continue the fight. Until the time where the perfect candidate for War appears, wield my power and turn the tides of War against those who seek to control the world itself."_ And on Naruto's other hand appeared one of War's gantlets, but it was far too big so it shrunk to the point that it looked like a metallic sleeve to Naruto that covered up his arm up to his elbow.

And with their power and weapons passed down to the newest Horseman, the Spirits of the former ones were finally at peace and faded from existence. Naruto felt the power within himself surge once more and as it did, his body became clothed in a jet black Cowl that he used to cover up his now gray hair wit jet black tips as well as his shoulders, with the rest becoming encased in a gray skintight muscle tee that showed off his newfound muscular body with bulging abs t helped cover the large scar where the Chidori had struck his heart, a permeant reminder on how he had acquired his power as well as to remind him on his new goals were. He walked forward and grabbed the only remaining item on the shrine, Death's mask and donned it on his face. Once he did, a sense of being complete washed over him like a river. He then turned around and left the chamber, which itself faded from existence once he left. Once out of the chamber, a raven landed on his shoulder and cawed in happiness that his new master had arisen, as well as a rotted looking horse engulfed in green flames appeared before him.

"Dust, Despair," said Naruto in a deeper, darker voice as he mounted his horse, "we have work to do." And with that, a portal opened and they rode through it to begin resetting balance in the world…

(3 years later)

In the last three years, Naruto had been busy in his endeavors. Being the only thing of both Angelic as well as Demonic origins (Vulgrim excluded) with the power to mold heaven and hell since there was no countering force to stop him, made it all the more simpler to forge heaven and hell into an appropriate setting. Heaven was formed into a corridor of long hallways that held doorways into different rooms, each labeled with a name of the one who would come to inhabit it in the future. Within each room was a blank space that would solidify into whatever it was that the owners of said room's greatest desires were for all eternity. And if said person was tired of paradise like that, they could leave the room at any time and hang out in the many gathering points or even join up and become one of Heaven's angels the protectors of the realm. Once the realm was formed into a heav3en worthy of the good souls, Naruto helped enhance the aura that Kami himself sent out to summon forth the souls worthy of it. Out of the many that arrived, he chose a few who wanted to help and had them do the paperwork to allow said souls in, for even in heaven people needed guides so as to understand where things were located.

Hell was a different matter entirely, since Naruto had to make sure that those sent there suffered for all eternity until the last shred of their spirit was crushed, then they would become a mindless demon that would torment the future souls that would come to inhabit the realm after them. But to make it extraordinarily cruel for the damned souls, there was only one line to get into hell and once in line, you were stuck in it until you were processed by the single gatekeeper that filed the paperwork for all dammed souls for all eternity. The name of this soul? Sarutobi Hiruzen… Naruto had found it quite hilarious as well as a perfect form of poetic justice to do this to Sarutobi. He had to claim the soul from Vulgrim himself who also laughed at Sarutobi's newest hell and didn't even want a trade for it. At first Hiruzen didn't understand why he was forced to do this, but then Naruto revealed his face as well as his newest title and saw the color wash away from his face entirely. He had tried to attack Naruto, but chains forged from the darkest pits of hell sprung from the ground and held him in place. They forced him to sit down behind the desk he was assigned and begin the never-ending stacks of paperwork alone. From Naruto's account it took about four to six hundred years to become processed into hell. Then the real torture began. Naruto had found many souls that were pitch black, who he knew that hell would seem like heaven to them and offered them a position of power within hell itself as demons to torture the souls for an eternity. They accepted this amazing offer without hesitation, and while Naruto himself didn't like those types of people, they still had their uses in hell. He even came upon the soul of Zabuza Momochi and offered him a spot as Overseer in hell as well, which he took with a hearty laugh. And for the past three years he has been right at home torturing the damned souls of Hell with his most demented of methods. Naruto had also found a few souls with excellent weapon smithing skills in both heaven as well as hell to help forge copies of the weapons he knew that he would have to give up once the other horsemen were located, and while they weren't as powerful as the originals, they would suffice quite well. He had traveled to the now destroyed land of the dead, and it was here that he found the shattered remains of a tool wielded by death long ago called Interdiction, which allowed him to command 3 separate souls. And with the help of the smiths in heaven and hell, they were able to fix it so that he could use it once more. And the first thing he did with it was call upon the spirit of the Kyuubi itself that had perished in his body, but the rest of it remained in his father's spirit. Now he wielded the power of Kyuubi once more…

And now he was here in his clan's homeland known as Whirlpool. He felt the souls of his clan gathering towards him since in their desire for revenge they were tethered to this land and could not move on to the next life. Naruto had made a deal with Vulgrim to never rip power out of him like he did before again for an amulet that was capable of wielding the souls of those who perished near him, for his master plan was to revive his fallen clan as the newest generation of Nephilim so as to keep the peace in the world. But for every soul revived once soul must be used to harvest its life force and revive another soul. So that was why he was here now, to gather up his clan's souls so that one he had enough he could bring them back to life once more. Once he told them of his plan, they surged forward and entered the amulet he held in his hands. With this done, Naruto then mounted his horse once more and made way to Suna, for he felt a disturbance there that needed to be corrected and a friend that most likely needed to be saved…

(Konoha)

Hinata sat in her room. Tears fill her eyes. She wanted to die. She wanted to take a kunai and slice herself across the neck to defy the life that awaited her with Uchiha Sasuke. And of all days to pick for her forced wedding it had to be on the third anniversary of her true love's death! Tsunade felt it would be perfect for Sasuke to get married on this day and to Hinata of all people since the Hokage knew how the girl felt about Naruto like everyone else in the village did. It was to dishonor Naruto, hurt Hinata, and basically make Sasuke happy so he would keep public support in her favor all wrapped up in one neat little package. Sasuke was only interested in her because one, she was a strong kunoichi since Hinata had trained constantly after Naruto's death, and plowed through many a Hyuuga in the spars given to break her down. And two, Sasuke also knew that she loved Naruto and wanted to stick it to him by claiming the one girl who loved him.

 _'I could do it. Just to see the look on their faces. On my Father's face. On Sasuke's face. On Tsunade's and Jiraiya's faces. But that would be the easy way out. The coward's way out. Their way out of things. Besides, I doubt Sasuke would weep tears at my death, and just call me weak like Naruto for doing it,'_ thought Hinata, as she looked at the wedding dress she was given earlier to wear to tailor it for her, so that when Sasuke returned from his mission in Suna they would be wed, and hated the idea of wearing it for the Uchiha.

There was only one man she'd wear it for and he was no longer among the living.

It wasn't long before a group of female Branch Family members entered her room to prepare Hinata for her wedding with Sasuke in the near future. However, from what the Branch Family members saw from the look on the Hyuuga woman's face, they would think she was getting ready for her funeral, and burying someone she loved.

In a sense...Hinata was doing just that!

"You look wonderful Hinata-sama. A Goddess fit for any man," said Neji entering the room to see Hinata in her attire.

"There is only one man I want to be with and he's not here," said Hinata while looking in the mirror.

"We've been over this. Your infatuation with the demonic monster has to end before the wedding starts. The only reason Hokage-sama hasn't ordered Yamanaka Inoichi to simply remove your memory of him, is because Sasuke wishes you to keep those memories, and I think your dislike of the Uchiha has been misplaced," stated Neji with Hinata suddenly turning her head and glaring at him.

"I know why the Uchiha wishes me to keep Naruto's memories and it's hardly out of the goodness of his heart or even his souls since he is lacking in one. Sasuke wants to have a victory over Naruto in every way and he wants me to know that by using my body knowing he'll have it instead of the one man worthy of being my husband," Hinata stated coldly with Neji frowning at her.

"I warn you Hinata-sama. This will not be tolerated forever. Do not push it," Neji told her before leaving the room.

'Naruto-kun, if you can hear me on the other side...know that my mind, body, and soul will always be yours no matter what they do,' thought Hinata, as she looked herself in the mirror, and for the briefest of moments pictured the wedding she wanted with Naruto.

And for that brief moment...Hinata smiled while holding onto that moment with all the strength her soul could muster.

She was going to need it… And in her grief, she failed to notice a Raven fly from the windowsill to return to his master…

(I apologize for having to repeat some of the fist chapter, but Vulgrim had to explain the story to Naruto)


	3. Death of a Wedding

(A/N: When I first started this story, my plan was to have Naruto be the embodiment of all four horsemen, but I changed my mind as time went by and decided to have four separate horsemen instead. Now comes the question of can anyone guess who the other three will be? I'm fairly certain that everyone can guess who Fury, the only woman, will be yet can you guess the other two? Once again I would like to thank VFSnake for allowing me to use a bit of his story for my own and I will say that the Wedding scene in this chapter is from his story 'Hollow Inari' and you should read it if you get the chance. I changed about 40% of it to fit my own story since his is a crossover with Bleach and mine is a Darksiders crossover.)

(Suna's Desert)

As a strong wind start blowing, some sand seem to concentrate, compressing and forming the figure of a young man with gray with jet black tipped hair, he couldn't help but remember the blank desert that the land of the dead had become after the War of Apocalypse. In the past there had been temples and buildings as well as arenas of various sorts, but now it had all been reduced to endless desert. Yet if his plans were to come to fruition then it wouldn't be like that for much longer. Naruto thought of it not as an endless desert, but a blank canvas that someone with his artistic skill as well as his celestial power was meant to mold into the perfect living space for him and the rest of the Horsemen that he would find in time. Naruto would have rode Despair all the way to Suna, but he was fairly certain that an undead flame engulfed horse would shock too many people, and he was trying to keep as low a profile for as long as possible.

"This strange feeling I am feeling is getting stronger the closer I get to Suna" said Naruto letting his foxy-grin showing once again. "Knowing my luck I will most likely meet at least one of the shinobi from Konoha. Need to keep a level head until everything is set in place for the grand finale."

It was easy testing his powerful seals he placed on himself to ensure that his power was greatly suppressed as he walked to his destination, even if he couldn't use chakra since the key thing about it is that it was an energy source that was only able to be used by those who were alive, and him being not only a Nephilim as well as the Horseman of Death countered that entirely. Death using the powers of the living, the thought of such a thing made him chuckle to himself. It was kind of a bummer for him to not be able to use any of the jutsu he had used while still human, yet having newfound powers such as what he had and a body incapable of being harmed by any form of weapon that wasn't forged in the bowels of Hell itself or the forges of Heaven.

"I wonder how my old friend Gaara is doing at this moment in time, it has been quite a while since I have seen him," he said opening his eyes, clenching his hands into a fist for as he stared at them. The raw feel of power gave him a feeling of euphoria; with it he would set the balance of the world straight once more.

"Better start moving, if this feeling I'm getting is right, Gaara should be in danger and I will need to hurry so that nothing bad happens to him." using his power, he called forth Dust to fly high up into the air so that he could see how much further he needed to go to reach Suna. He saw that he was within close proximity to the village, so he donned his mask to hide his face, since even with his hair changing colors, he still had his whisker marks that helped people identify him quite easily since no one else in the world had them, but now they were more feral looking since his transformation.

Once his appearance was hidden away from others, Naruto walked the short distance towards the village gates, several trails of smoke showed a recent attack had happened. Walking faster, he approached the gate, before stopping and inwardly cursing his rotten luck, for in front of him was the last group of people he wished to see at the moment...Team 7.

"Identify yourself," said a Suna Shinobi reaching for his weapon after seeing this stranger appear, and judging by his intimidating attire he wanted to be on guard in case he was hostile.

"I'm here to see Sabaku no Gaara on urgent business, but since I don't think that having smoke coming out of your houses is a normal occurrence, this must be the worst time I could have chosen to come here" said Naruto before looking behind the Suna Shinobi, and at the faces of one Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and some pale skinned boy that he never meet before.

"Who are you?" asked Sakura, as she could feel the stare this strange man was giving her, and the mask he wore only freaked her out more than she already was from the attire he was wearing.

"My name is not important, but for the moment you may address me as Grim. I came to this village to speak to Sabaku no Gaara to help him avoid suffering a horrible fate, yet I may be too late. What has happened here?" said Naruto, as he was having a hard time keeping himself from killing those he once called a team and make himself a target, not yet at least.

"The Kazekage has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki and we're here to help save Gaara at the request of his siblings, it seem that they know we are far superior to their Shinobi since they can't help themselves," said Sasuke with a smirk, he will impress this man, making his name known even in foreign lands and spread the name of the Uchiha even further than it already was.

"So Gaara is the Kazekage now, huh? I'll have to congratulate him once this mess is over," Naruto said to himself, he had already sensed where the Akatsuki were taking Gaara since Dust had picked up their trail in the distance.

"Wait! You never said why came here in the first place," said Temari having walked in on the conversation.

"I came from...overseas. I am a Seer with a gift, or curse if you wish to call it that as many would say it is, that allows me to see multiple futures of anybody or anything that could greatly impact the world. In one of my visions I saw your brother in mortal danger and if he perishes, then the world will head down a dark path that my visions have shown will be the end of the world as we know it. So I have come to offer up my assistance so that this dark future can be avoided," he said walking away with his hands at his sides like his predecessor did long ago.

"Wait!" said Kakashi, fixing his eyes on the boy "Grim," a sense of dread possessing his soul as he looked at the man in the eyes, his dark blue eyes were devoid of life and only promised death to those who crossed him.

"What do you want Konoha's shinobi?" asked Naruto who just wanted to leave so that he could save his friend before it was too late to do so.

"That mask? Where did you acquire such a thing, for I can feel such a strange source of power emanating from it" he asked.

"This? This was given to me by the man who once donned it himself long ago before he passed away. There isn't another one like it anywhere in the world so if you are going to ask where you could get one yourself, there isn't another one to acquire."

"Why help Suna like this? We are from Konoha, _THE_ strongest village of the whole elemental nation, you should use these powers of yours to help us, not this weak village," said Sasuke as he wanted this man in the village so that the Council could force him to teach him everything that he knew and gain even more power, for even though his Sharingan was complete his lust for power hadn't diminished in the slightest over the last three years.

Naruto couldn't help but snarl, unnerving the duck-ass haired boy

"Sorry, but my power doesn't work in the way that you think it does," said Naruto as he turned fully around to face Sasuke, "for it only shows me the futures of people or events that impact the world. Many times I ignored the events since tampering with the future always has consequences."

"So if that is how your power works, then why not look into Sasuke's future since he is the last Uchiha and his very existence is influential for the world?" asked the pink haired fan-girl Sakura.

"If that is true, then allow me to peer into your future then," said Naruto who was mentally laughing at the fact that they were buying this bullshit, since he didn't have the powers he said he did and yet they were so easily convinced that he did. So he held his clawed gauntlet up and poked Sasuke in the forehead while heating the tip just a bit to really sell it.

"So what did you see in his future?" asked Kakashi, who was genuinely interested in what this strange man would say about his students future.

"I see many possible futures for this boy, and yet not a single one of them ends well for him. His life goal to avenge his clan goes unfinished and he dies by the hands of someone he thought was dead. I have peered into thousands of branching paths he could take, and yet all end in utter failure and death," he said making the others flinch at how calmly he was saying that to their faces.

"How dare you say that? Your power must be defective since Sasuke will avenge his clan and become the ultimate shinobi," screamed Sakura, unable to look into his eyes in fear.

"As I have said, I peered into many paths he could take. And if you wish to be in denial then you shouldn't have demanded that I peer into his future," this made Sakura take a step back...when was the last time she saw something like that happen? Being talked back to like this.

"Is there any way that we could convince you to come with us to our village after this mission is over?" asked Kakashi, "I'm fairly certain that our kage could make some use of your power."

"I chart my own course without hindrance, and if I happen to end up in Konoha then it will be because I was meant to go there. For I answer to a higher calling and let destiny decide where I go. And not even your eye concealed by your headband can change my mind in any way, but you are welcome to try and yet you will fail and the price of failure is steep," Kakashi instinctively put a hand on his Sharingan eye as he said this...but why was he doing just that?

"And by taking up too much of my time, you may have made it too late to save Gaara in time," said Naruto as his Raven Dust landed on his shoulder and awed out directions for him.

"Is that an animal summon?" stammered Sakura in surprise to see a raven just appear out of nowhere, and in the desert no less.

"No he is not, he is nothing more than my familiar and companion," he said walking away.

"What is his name?" asked a now very pissed Sasuke, who was pissed by this man not only telling him that he would fail to avenge his clan, but also brushed him off like he was nothing.

"His name is Dust, and why you wanted to know doesn't make sense since it doesn't do you any good to know his name" answered Naruto before he began to walk away once more.

"But we should stay together since we are all going to try and save the Kazekage," said the pale boy.

"Shut up Sai," answered the last loyal Uchiha.

"You wouldn't be able to reach the destination in time so I must make haste," said Naruto as he jumped up into the air and mounted on Despair that appeared out of thin air, doing so caused those in the immediate area to stare with wide eyes as they saw this. Naruto saw this and inwardly chuckled as Despair sprinted further as fast as he could and disappeared into the distance faster than the others ever could even at their peak speed…

(Clearing – Akatsuki hideaway)

"They need some lesson in hiding, even an organization of S-class nuke-nin has to pay attention...and a _BOULDER_ of all things with seals on it in front of a gate is not something you can find naturally around here or anywhere if you think about it long enough," said Naruto, as he stood before said boulder, now he only had to find the other seals and remove them at the same time and. Yet before he could say anything more he felt the power of a soul entering his amulet. He channeled his mind to see whose it was and to his utter rage it was Gaara's.

"AAH! Fuck this!" he then conjured up his purplish blue spirit arm to punch into the boulder, by doing so he cracked it opens large enough for his second arm to enter as well. Once inside he used his enhanced strength to rip the boulder in half.

The two members of the Akatsuki inside the cave looked up in shock; the same was done by the other shadowy figures in the room, holo projections of the other members of Akatsuki, from their position on the fingers of a huge statue. He saw Gaara's body on the ground with his demon extracted and his body lifeless. The rage built up inside him as he saw his best friend dead on the ground and the very people responsible were standing before him.

"Who the hell are you? And how did you enter?" asked the blond male, Deidara.

"A force of nature that you have unfortunately seen fit to infuriate with your recent actions, but now, just need to know me as your personal executioner. I will be merciful and give you a fast death IF you let me take Gaara's body," the hunched over one, Sasori, laughed as he heard this, since he was thinking that this strange boy was joking.

"Do you have any idea of who you are dealing with or even how strong we are? Do you seriously think you can take out BOTH of us?" asked Sasori.

"As I used to believe back in the old times, you two seem to think that I care or that I SHOULD care about you or your abilities, in reality, to me you are only human trash, trash that believe to be better than everyone else, and that is something that I still can't stand when it comes to the likes of you, arrogant fools. If I have to be honest, I still think that the only solution of this problem is to kill you pathetic pieces of trash and all with your kind of mindset, but this way is easier since I just only have to remove the problem at the source."

"What?" asked one of the projections in the room.

"Just shut up and die, for with your death I can resurrect one who's life was snuffed out too early," said Naruto, before suddenly appearing behind Sasori using his speed and beheading him with a back-handed motion of the hand, the sound of breaking wood resounding in the cave loud and clear.

Sasori had to thank his instinct if he could come out of the puppet before being hit.

"How did he move that fast?" thought Deidara while the gray haired boy positioned the dead Gaara on his shoulder, quickly moving towards the exit, but he just remembered that he need to do the hand seals to send the statue away. Yet before he could do just that, the stranger before him held out his hand and the statue split open, allowing the Biju Shikaku to fly out and be absorbed into Naruto's arm, and as it did so, a circular symbol with three smaller circles appeared. One was already filled with a crimson symbol, and another filled up with a sand brown colored one.

"Deidara! Sasori! Stop him now!" said the projection that was in the middle of the others. Nodding, Sasori revealed his puppets while Deidara started making several kinds of bombs using the mouths in his hands.

"All right! Prepare to die! Damned kid," said Deidara grinning evilly. Naruto unholstered his pistol Redemption and quickly aimed it at his target.

"Die" He said simply, firing off a shot towards both Sasori as well as Deidara. It was only thanks to a fast substitution that the duo dodged the attack in time. Naruto laughed internally since he had honestly believed that humans, even those with Jutsus like the ones in this day and age wouldn't be able to dodge bullets. Yet he was just proven wrong and he would file that bit of information to for later use.

Another burst of speed let Naruto and Gaara touch the more stable, solid ground. Putting his friend's body down, he side-stepped, so as to dodge one of the many puppets Sasori had summoned to fight him, before crushing it with his brute strength alone.

While he was facing Sasori, Deidara continued forming explosives animals, hoping to drive Naruto away from Gaara, so that their target couldn't end up harmed and finish they could bring the body back to their leader as he had commanded them to do. He was unsure as to why he wanted the dead body but who was he to question the man?

"Die you fool!" said Sasori, as an army of puppets moved as one to kill the insolent boy who dared destroy his art. For each one of his puppets was a work of genius to him and by destroying even one of them set him back nearly several weeks since he would have to find an adequate replacement in the world to capture and begin the process of turning them into a puppet.

"Sorry, but I don't take orders from the likes of you" said Naruto, as he let loose a incredibly small fraction of his spiritual pressure, rooting the two criminals in place since their powers were not enough to shrug off such raw spiritual power, while he was calmly walking towards Sasori, he start humming, playfully remembering how in the past he had always been in the position that these two were in know. On their knees with fear in their hearts as well as uncertainty that they would survive to see another day. Thinking back on those moments filled him with rage, and harnessing the power of that rage he took the boy's red haired head clean off moving his hand open palmed in a smooth cutting motion.

"So he was a living puppet, never thought I would see something like that in my lifetime," he said before stomping the cylinder with Sasori heart inside, splattering blood everywhere and collecting the soul that tried in vain to fly away from this monster of a man.

"Now it's my turn!" said Deidara now that he could move again, he flew high in the sky on his clay bird, having at the ready a storm of explosive birds, waiting to be unleashed on a target...but the boy wasn't fazed by this in the least nor did he even look the least bit worried by this.

"If you say so...then yes _, it is_ your turn" said Naruto, shocking Deidara, as he unlatched his bladed whip and whipped it towards him. The blades on the whip dug deep into the clay bird's body and caused the thing to explode, blasting off both of Deidara's legs in the process. The fall also caused him to receive a broken arm since he landed on his side from such a great height. He tried to crawl away from Naruto while bleeding heavily on his back, yet Naruto slowly walked up to him as he once again unholstered his pistol and pointed it at Deidara's head.

"Oooh! Fuck me sideways!" said Deidara in fear since he knew that he was about to die here and now.

"Sorry, I don't swing that way, nor will I ever." said Naruto before shooting a bullet into his head at point-blank range.

After he dealt with the two enemies before him, he looked back towards the holo projections of the others. He walked up to them and they looked at him in anger since he had not only killed two members of their organization, but he had also stolen the Biju that they had spent so much time planning to acquire.

"Le what you have seen here today serve as a warning," said Naruto as he glared at each one of the projections with his eyes glowing as he hid his face behind his mask. "For if you continue going down this path that you are all walking, then you will have to deal with me personally. And if that ever happens, then you best drop to your knees and pray to whatever gods you believe in to save you from my wrath. Yet I will warn you ahead of time that your gods will not listen to your pleas." And he turned around to collect his friend's body.

"Who are you," asked one of the projections.

"I am known by many names," said Naruto as he looked back at the projections without fully turning his body. "Yet I am known to most people in the world simply as Death."

No longer sensing any of the other Akatsuki members as their projections disappeared altogether, Naruto let his spiritual power falter as he felt the Leaf Shinobi came close to him along with another presence that turned out to be an elderly woman, clearly from Suna if he was to guess about it.

"You! What the hell happened? We could feel the explosion from halfway here!" shouted Sakura pointing at Naruto, who just keep ignoring them, focusing instead on Gaara's body, checking if everything was okay and that it was still intact.

Naruto remained silent as the elderly woman came to check on Gaara with a rather guilty look in her eyes, probably from having contributed in the Kazekage's life while growing up. Turning his head, Naruto could see how Team 7 from Konoha was ready for a fight. He was amused at the looks Sasuke was giving him; he was silently ordering Naruto to answer his question about his powers. Yet there was no possible way for Sasuke to force him to teach him anything.

'He probably is still focused on getting more power...I wonder if I should kill Itachi just for the heck of it so as to steal from him his purpose,' thought Naruto, before he began walking away from them.

"I thought you came to help him," said Kakashi calmly, the young man just stopped to look at him, while the wind was blowing his black cowl in a way that gave them a clear view of his muscle tee and the abs that they clearly displayed in an intimidating fashion, he gave Kakashi a frown.

"Yes, you are right... but because of your little group here demanding that I show the Uchiha his future in a vain attempt to boost his ego I was too late to save him. Then again, I won't pretend some weaklings from the Leaf can understand the ramifications of their actions," said Naruto seeing Sasuke and Sakura draw some kunai, evidently angered by his words.

"Take that back loser!" demanded Sakura, her voice reaching a high-pitched volume.

"Why? I just said the truth. By your looks alone you don't seem physically strong and by the way you act, I don't think you will never have the finesse to be a leader in any capacity. I will be surprised if you manage to take care of yourself instead of relying on your team here to do all the work, for any group in life is only as strong as their weakest member and if what I see from you alone is anything to go on, then your team is weak," he said, smiling mischievously as Sasuke activate his Sharingan, while Kakashi scowled at him.

"Be careful when you insult someone, Grim-san. A Leaf Shinobi is not someone you want for an enemy," said Kakashi in an authoritative voice, his scowl became even deeper as Naruto let out a little, playful laugh that seemed far more sinister than it was meant to be.

"We are not in your country, my dear Leaf Shinobi. By the laws here in the elemental nation, if I insult you here you can't do anything in return since you have not a shred of authority within someone else's country. I hope you do not have a problem with what I said, even then, I suggest you to act humble and leave, remember that I am a simple Seer. Try to think what will happen to your precious village if I sent a message saying that Konoha attacks and attempts to imprison a man of religion just for speaking his mind. And even if you succeeded in doing just that, there is nothing that anyone in your village can do to make me crack in any sense of the word, nor do obedience seals work on me either. So please, stop acting superior to your betters," said Naruto seeing his ex-sensei narrow his eye at him.

"What did you say loser?" said Sasuke, moving his hands, going through the seals for a Katon Jutsu.

"Sasuke don't! This guy may be a simple Seer as he claims, but he took down two S-class Missing Nin without breaking a sweat. Grim-san, even if the things didn't start in the right way, I hope you will reconsider the possibility of visiting our village in the next few days. We have a wedding scheduled in the next few days and it would be an honor to have someone powerful like you attend it." said Kakashi, as Lady Chiyo stood protectively in front of Gaara's body with tears in her eyes since he had died and she felt such great guilt about what she had personally done to him in his youth.

"A wedding you say," said Naruto who knew who exactly was getting married since his familiar Dust had found it out for him not too long ago. "Who, may I ask, is the lucky couple that are about to tie the knot in holy matrimony?"

"That would be me," said Sasuke, unaware of the dark aura resonating from Sakura not too far behind him since she was enraged that it was someone else and not her who was getting to marry _her_ Sasuke. "And my wife to be Hinata Hyuuga, the former clan heiress of the prestigious Hyuuga clan."

"You, Grim! You are the one responsible for avenging Gaara by killing those responsible for his death. The means of transportation that got you here, can you use it again to take the Kazekage back to Suna for a proper burial?" asked Chiyo.

"It would be my pleasure," said Naruto picking up Gaara, before giving a mock salute to the four Leaf Shinobi, and suddenly becoming mounted on his trusty steed once more before he took off at breakneck speeds.

"The Hokage will not approve of you doing this. Why would you let him, a complete stranger, take the Kazekage instead of us Lady Chiyo," asked Kakashi seeing the old woman glare at him.

"What your Hokage think is not my problem, since I serve the Kazekage of Suna. And frankly, I somehow trust that complete stranger far more than the whole leaf village put together," said Chiyo, heading back to Suna with the others trying, and failing, to keep up with her.

(Suna Hospital – 2 hours later)

Temari was saddened to see her brother dead and lifeless like he was, and yet his body was practically without a single scratch on him. The mysterious stranger placed the body on the hospital bed before moving to the window and shutting the blinds, with a grin on his face that so much made her think back at an old friend now dead for three years now.

While watching the Suna shinobi working at the reparation of the damages the village sustained during the attack earlier that day, Naruto couldn't help but thinking about many things about his old village Konoha and the Akatsuki. He walked up to her and told her to dry her tears since everything would be all right. She wasn't sure why, but she believed him entirely and watch as he channeled a strange blue transparent energy into both his hands. The energy in his left hand took form into Gaara himself yet he was transparent. The one in his right hand formed into a simple heart in a strange container. Naruto took the spiritual heart and crushed it in his hand, turning it into a sphere of pure spiritual energy. He then placed it in the soul of Gaara and saw it glow. Once it began to glow, he placed Gaara's soul back into his own body, and shortly afterwards his cold dead body filled back up with life and color and he began to breath once more. Temari broke out in tears as she saw her brother live once more. She hugged his still heling body as Naruto looked at this with a genuine smile on his face that was still hidden behind his mask and thought on other things as he did.

"How should I handle them now, I have practically made an enemy of the entire Akatsuki organization, while the Leaf thinks that I am some Seer with powers that they could use as they please. The Nara clan is right, sometimes life is just too troublesome," he thought.

"Thank you for saving Gaara, Grim-san, is there anything you need?" said Temari, bowing slightly in front of him. In that moment Gaara started to stir.

"Where am I? What happened?" said Gaara looking at his sister apparently talking to a stranger with a very intimidating appearance.

"You are safe now Gaara, we are in Suna's hospital. Grim-san saved you from the Akatsuki," said Temari smiling at Gaara, while his brother Kankuro sat down next to him with a smile on his face as well.

"Who is he?" asked Gaara, Temari's smile turn into a frown.

"You don't know? He said you used to be friends," said Temari.

All the while Naruto was smiling while looking at them.

"I do not know him Temari, actually, this is the first time I meet this man in my life," said Gaara, which made Temari's eyes widen in shock. The wind mistress then took her iron fan next to the bed positioning herself between Gaara and the stranger in a defensive stance.

"Who are you?" said Temari, glaring at Naruto with all the fury her person was able to muster.

"As I said before I went to save him, I am here to help Gaara," said Naruto, smiling like it was some kind of joke.

"Yet you don't know Gaara, so what are you doing here?" asked Temari.

"Why should I lie about wanting to help out Gaara? If I was an enemy, I could have easily killed him by not returning his soul once more to his body and just let him remain dead," said Naruto before turning his smile in a full laugh.

"Gaara has never seen you until now. So you will tell us why you are here, or you will face the consequences," said Kankuro while Temari kept looking at the Horseman carefully.

"I see that you have grown stronger than the last time I saw you. I remember you being a little gentler. I know it seems that I am a little different from the last time Gaara has seen me, then again, what I'm going to say is a secret, and I ask you to never tell anyone until the right time comes. If you remember we _did_ meet at one point three years ago. It was during the invasion of the Leaf village, during the Chunin Exams. I was the first person to ever defeat you in combat, something that you had never thought possible. Do you remember me now?" asked Naruto, seeing Gaara's eyes go wider in shock at each and every detail he was giving in his story as did Temari's and Kankuro's too.

"It can't be. Uzumaki Naruto died at the hands of Uchiha Sasuke, I saw his body being burned into nothing! They even have the galls to let us see it before kicking us out of the village, all the while everyone was cheering as he died! You look nothing like him!" said Gaara, as he could feel all the anger he felt towards Konoha. The politics of his country may demand that the new Kazekage to keep the alliance with the Leaf valid, but that didn't mean he wouldn't use every grain of sand in Suna's desert to crush Konoha into oblivion if given the chance.

"Yes I know, I was there when I died, yet hiding one's appearance is very useful if you want to sneak around, but people tend to not recognize you when you need them to," said Naruto, as Temari was still on high guard against him.

"Prove it to me. Show me you are really my friend Uzumaki Naruto back amongst the living," said Gaara, seeing the stranger pull his mask off as well as pull off the hood of his cowl. Gaara and his siblings gasped as they saw a more powerful looking version of once knuckleheaded ninja they came to love like a brother.

"Is this enough to convince you? Before the sand body of Shikaku started collapsing in our fight, I jumped down from the Toad Boss Summon Gamabunta. You said you wanted to prove your existence and then asked me why I kept fighting, and I know the two of us were alone up there," said a smiling Naruto, amused at the surprised look of their faces of seeing someone they believe dead, walking amongst the living once again.

"Welcome back then, my friend" Gaara said, nodding slowly.

"Wow, you did really come back" said Temari, putting her fan away, as Kankuro relaxed again in his chair.

"So what will you do now?" said Temari seeing the newly revived Uzumaki Naruto head for the window before stopping.

"Whatever alliance you have with the Leaf, I think it would be better to cut it off, I know few things that will help all of you to survive on your own, without relying on outer sources. I don't think you can trust a place that kills someone that had completed a mission or that can make a public spectacle of an execution such as mine, or are you really my enemy as well? An enemy ready to betray me and support the littlest desires of the same pampered betrayer I was sent to bring back?" said Naruto.

"I hope you are joking, because it's not funny and I assure you that if it all up to me, by now there would not be a Konoha on the face of this planet," said Gaara narrowing his eyes, that moment three years ago was still a burning wound on his very soul.

"Good, even if I don't think that the Wind Daimyo will be happy if you do cut your alliance," said Naruto

"If he asks, I will simply tell him what really happened after the retrieval of the Uchiha. You may not know it, but Konoha pretty much threatened us if we were to ever tell the truth about your death they would move towards war. But I'm sure the Daimyo will totally change his point of view towards my choice once I talk," said Gaara, showing his version of Naruto's foxy-grin.

"It seems like Gaara is showing his mettle. I'm happy to be back, even only to see you guys again, I have to go, and those bastards from Konoha will be here any minutes. But before I go I have this to leave you," said Naruto as he handed Gaara a large scroll.

"What is this that you are handing me," asked Gaara in wonderment to the scroll that was given to him.

"Inside of the scroll is the deed to the entirety of Whirlpool Country. I leave it to you my friend since your country could use the resources more than I or any other village could."

"You are just handing over your entire clan's home and fortune?," asked Temari in utter shock since the riches as well as the resources from that country far exceeded any other countries as well. "

"I have no need for such things," said Naruto as he quickly explained in about five minutes what he was and why such land was useless to him since his new home was within the former land of the dead. And when he was able to revive his clan in the future, they would come to call it their home as well once their transformation into Nephilim was completed. Once the explanation was done, Naruto shook Gaara's hand and told him that in the future he would come and personally collect his soul to guide to the afterlife and to continue down the path he was going so that he would be able to ascend to heaven since he didn't want to drag him to hell. He then used his power to open portals so as to get ready for an event he had to get ready for in the near future.

A half hour later, team 7 had finally returned to see if Gaara was really in the hospital's morgue, yet the leaf group found him deep in thought about something, alive and well to their shock. But when Kakashi greeted the young Kazekage, the red haired man glared at them so intensely that the stares he used to give three years back seemed like nothing in comparison to the ones he was giving now, what was more frightening was that the whole room was covered in sand, ready to crush anyone who dared challenge him in any way.

"Something happened here Kazekage-sama?" said Kakashi seeing the intense look from Gaara. "And also how are you alive? We saw your body as Grim delivered it back to this village."

"Yes, after a _long_ talk with Grim-san I came to a very important conclusion. Tell your Hokage that the alliance between our villages is now null and void. I found something more interesting and no longer fear retribution from your village," said Gaara, smirking at their shocked faces. "And how I am still alive, well that is for me, my siblings, and Grim to know and you as well as the rest of your village to never find out."

"What? Why would you do this?" asked Sakura, Temari simply walked in front of her, putting her fan on her shoulder.

"You don't need to know the full detailed story kid. But now you have to get out of Suna, or your whole Team will be declared hostile, attacked on our command and thrown in prison where you will be subjected to tortures that will haunt your dreams for years to come." said Temari, spitting the words out as if they were venomous.

"Do you realize the consequences of your actions? What do you think will happen to your pathetic village? You can't touch me, I am an Uchiha elite! I demand you tell us the secret on how you were revived or else I will speak to the councils once I return home and we will wage war with your village and force you to tell us in the end," said Sasuke as Temari smirked at him.

"Just try it, come on! You move for war and we may let our tongues slip while talking to the Wind Daimyo, or do you seriously think that he will still support your village if we tell him _our little secret_? I don't think he will like what we know, don't you think?" said Temari teasingly.

The Suna siblings couldn't help but smile as the team from Konoha went paler and paler while considering all the painful implications should a particular secret regarding a blond boy be exposed.

"Can I ask what Grim-san offered you to make you change your mind?" asked Kakashi, before Gaara's killer intent fill the room.

"What he offered? Way more than you will ever give us! But the main reason for this decision is that I finally have a reason to cut any and all ties with a place that kept dishonoring my friend Uzumaki Naruto's memory," said Gaara in an tone so devoid of humanity that it made Kakashi take a step back.

"What? He was a loser! Why should anyone keep weeping over him? A no one?" said Sasuke, making the killer intent in the room became so oppressive that the sand started forming a miniaturized version of Shikaku roaring at the group, Gaara was only letting them live so as to give his message to the Hokage, but he was rapidly having a change of heart.

"Get out of here NOW! Get out or I will kill you! **STARTING FROM NOW EVERY NINJA FROM KONOHA ENTERING HERE WITHOUT MY DIRECT PERMISSION WILL BE KILLED ON SIGHT**!" yelled Gaara, his voice and killer intent showing he was a step from actually killing them, as a veritable sand-storm filled the room.

"This is not the end of this," said Sakura before they left.

"I think it is. Now go, my brother needs his rest," said Kankuro, laughing as the leaf shinobi were literally blown out of the hospital room.

(Suna – outside the gate)

"What now, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura, totally covered in sand as they were basically blown out of the hospital with such.

"If they don't want us it's their problem, right now, I think we should focus on this Grim. If he can offer so much to make Suna cut his alliance, then we should show him that we are a much better choice, and bring that much in _our_ hands" said the Jounin, trying to imagine how rich or powerful the man must be.

"If a mere Seer can take out two S-class missing Nin, then they must train me! With power like that I will finally kill my brother and avenge my clan!" said Sasuke.

"That's right Sasuke-kun, I'm sure he would be honored to train you!" said Sakura, hopping behind the avenger.

"Let's report to Hokage-sama, and then start making plans for looking for Grim-san after Sasuke's wedding," declared Kakashi.

From the sky, a lone raven was seeing all this unfold, hearing their plans for the future. The fools had just given him a way to enter the village with very little resistance since such a grand event would call for nearly the entire population to attend the event. So it would be easy to take away what belonged to his family and more importantly save the only woman that ever loved him from this marriage forced upon her by evil greedy people.

"Perfect. Just wait for me Hinata, I'm coming for you" Naruto said, smiling as he saw through the eyes of his familiar as he was galloping towards Konoha to stop this event from happening.

(Konoha Chapel-Day of the Wedding)

Sasuke was standing at the alter smirking his ever confident "I'm better then you" smirk while waiting for his bride to come down the aisle, to say her vows, and be his wife until death do they part. While he was still pissed that he had met a man with such great power refuse to teach him as well as show him up by completing the mission he had been sent to complete. Once the team had come back and reported what had happened with their alliance with Suna being cancelled as well as a man by the name of Grim somehow bringing back a confirmed dead Gaara, this news alone getting the attention of all in attendance since it was apparent that this stranger had a power unlike anything that they had ever seen and was capable of resurrecting the dead. They wanted this power for themselves since it would help them resurrect those who fall in battle and could become some of the most powerful medics that there ever were to exist. Danzo himself wanted it so that his dreams of global domination could become a reality with power such as Grim's at his disposal. So the council made the unanimous decision to find this man once the wedding was over and convince him to join their village either through negotiation or by force if needed. Once a part of the village they would sign off on making him the head of a new clan and enact the Clan Restoration Act and breed more future shinobi with his powers to use in the future.

The Uchiha smirked at the thought of claiming the former Hyuuga clan heiress as his wife knowing she loved his nemesis Naruto and was going to enjoying sticking it to the loser while sticking his dick into the Hyuuga bitch. She would know her place in his house, by force if she resisted. He was going to see to it she was pregnant within a Month into the marriage. No rest in that, as he would take her morning, noon, and night until the Hyuuga took a paternity test with the results being positive. He'd even have her at night when she slept. Her pleasure was never an issue in his mind because he didn't care about it in the slightest. She was going to be his wife. Meaning the Hyuuga was going to please him, give him pleasure, and be lucky to feel any from him in return.

When she wasn't pregnant or on her back being taken until she was pregnant, Sasuke had every intention of working that woman to the bone in doing everything around the house, and understand her place in the world was serving him. He would make sure that woman did the cooking, the cleaning, and being pregnant with his children until her very presence was sickening to the point where Sasuke would just kick her abused body out onto the street with nothing but the clothing on her back.

Even that last part was him being generous. And if in time she pissed him off enough, she wouldn't even be allowed to keep those…

'Are you watching from Hell loser? Are you watching me claim this woman as my own? She loves you even now three years after your death, but make no mistake I will have her screaming my name, and make her suffer for loving you,' thought Sasuke while everyone took their seats and saw his two most rabid fan girls from the Academy sitting there wishing this wedding was for them and not the Hyuuga whore.

In time he might take one or even both of them as his future wives, maybe when he was starting to get bored with the Hyuuga woman. But not right now. Hurting Naruto and those that care about him was his main objective in his life right now.

"All set Sasuke?" asked Kiba, who Sasuke had requested be the best man for this since the Uchiha knew of his growing dislike for Naruto over the years since Hinata the girl he wished to claim as a mate for himself was in love with Naruto over him, and his hatred for Naruto grew even more when Tsunade let the village know of the Kyuubi sealed within him and told the village that Naruto was the Kyuubi reincarnated.

"Yes. Just waiting for my future wife," answered Sasuke with his grin never leaving his face. The list of chores his new sla… he meant wife would be forced to do once this was all over. By the time she was done, the entire Uchiha district would be sparkling like the fucking sun down to the ground itself from all the cleaning she would be doing.

Sure enough, his grin increased when he saw Hinata coming walking down the aisle with her Father walking down it with his arm around her own. A sense of pride on his face at sending his eldest to be married to the Uchiha, though in truth, Hiashi was happy that his youngest was going to lead the Hyuuga Clan and a true Heir would succeed him. Hinata was getting too strong over the years for his liking and the fact her way of thinking went against the clan's made things worse for him overall so measures had to be taken to stamp this little speck of resistance from the clan. He had told the Hokage about his situation and how putting Hinata with Sasuke would be the best way to bring her underfoot. Tsunade agreed with him and after talking things over with Sasuke the arrangement was made behind Hinata's back. Not that Hiashi even cared, as his daughter was finally going to be useful in his eyes by securing an alliance with the Uchiha Clan through this marriage, boosting the Hyuuga even higher in the political realm, and maybe even have one of her children become Hokage with the right amount of training.

Tsunade stood behind Sasuke in her Hokage robes, ready to make these two married, and Jiraiya stood off to the side to be crowd control, even though there wasn't anyone who would try an oppose this wedding. After these two were married, Tsunade had given him orders to put a Cage Bird Seal on Hinata's head, which was just like the original one used on the Branch members of the clan except this one would ensure she obeyed her husband by using a blood seal attached to it, and make Hinata obey through a form of powerful hypnosis every command Sasuke gave her through a seal he formed with the help of the Yamanaka clan. The Rookies, their senseis, and just about everyone capable of fitting into the chapel much less get a seat was there to witness this marriage.

"Dearly beloved, we are here gathered today under Kami's blessed eyes to bind Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke together in holy matrimony to strengthen the ties between their clans of Konoha. If there is anyone here, who knows why these two should not be wed, please speak up now, or forever hold your peace," said Tsunade with some people letting out a chuckle, herself included at the thought that someone would be so stupid to say anything, and stop this wedding from happening.

Only one person would be that stupid and he was long since dead.

'Naruto-kun,' thought Hinata, as she had to hold back the tears, and wish-no praying this was just a horrible nightmare just waiting to end.

And just as if Kami himself had heard Hinata's prayers, an incredible power unlike anything that they have ever felt swept through the chapel, and all through Konoha itself. It was unlike anything they had ever felt before and wondered what could possibly be causing it? A Jutsu from a sudden enemy attack? A Biju? One or both Jinchuriki from Kumo trying to stop this wedding? What was this power emanating from?

(Konoha- 5 minutes earlier)

A lone hooded figure walked down the road to the gates of Konoha. Footfalls made little to no sounds as he walked. As to why this figure was heading to Konoha, he had a wedding to crash.

"Halt! State your business!" commanded an ANBU standing guard at the gate.

"Is today the day of the wedding between Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata?" asked the figure in a calm yet unreadable tone. He kept his head down so that the enemy couldn't see his mask.

"It is. Why?" questioned the second ANBU on guard duty while his hand flexed slightly to get it ready to reach for his sword.

"Oh good, I almost feared I was too late to attend. I take it everyone is there right now. Hence why I see no one walking the streets behind you," replied the figure with a hint of joy in his voice though for what purpose was unknown.

"This wedding is by invitation only. Only the Hokage can give out such things to the most important of people. Present your invitation to us and you may proceed to the event," commanded the first ANBU.

"Ah yes, my invitation. Of course. Silly me. Here is my invitation right here," replied the figure darkly while reaching into his shirt pocket for his invitation. And before either of them could react, the figure unsheathe his hidden scythe and decapitated the two guards while channeling fire through the blade so that the Hellfire burned away the corpses so there wasn't any proof of what had just transpired. The souls of the newly departed flew into the amulet worn by the figure, and seeing that there wasn't anyone else in the area, he continued onwards. He made his way to a dark alley and used his powers **(Soul Splitter power, but the copies are not glowing different colors in this story like in the game)** to turn into a statue, leaving two copies of himself to do as they needed to do. One of them took the Soul Amulet and headed to their destination while the other went to the chapel to wait for the right moment to crash the wedding being held within it.

" **Everyone in this village deserves to be wiped out. Why you saved that ungrateful liar for a Sandaime Hokage from a more horrible fate then the one assigned to him by you is nothing short of a mystery to me** ," said a voice only the figure could hear within his head.

'You know the reason Kurama. That man hated paperwork above all else and we needed someone to process the damned souls. So I killed two birds with one stone.' thought the figure to the demon in his head known as Kurama while smirking at the memory. The figure was able to converse with the demons sealed within another realm with the power of Interdiction. This copy was nearing the chapel where he was met with more guards.

"Halt! This place is forbidden to outsiders unless you have an invitation," stated a Konoha Nin in an emotionless tone.

"I am well aware of the wedding happening inside. That's why I am here," replied the figure with the pair of Konoha Nin glancing at his intimidating figure.

"Then you won't mind surrendering any weapons on your person and providing us with your invitation as proof of being invited," said the second Nin, who was clearly an Aburame judging by the way he was covered up, and wearing shades to hide his eyes.

"Of course. Let me see here. Invitation. Invitation. Ah! Here is my...invitation!" replied the figured before using his Death Grip to grab the Nin's head. His headless body slumped down dead on the ground.

"What th-ACK!" exclaimed the second Nin before feeling a fist go right through his chest where the heart was located.

"It is well that you and your comrade are nothing more than arrogant drones in the service of a crazed hag of a leader. The guilt of killing you and your leader will weigh less heavily on my soul," remarked the figure before pulling his hand out and watching the body fall while flicking the blood off his now clawed hands. He summoned more Hellfire to be rid of the bodies like the ones at the front gate. Once that was done, a small portal appeared in front of him and out of it fell his Soul Amulet that he caught and once again wore around his neck, feeling the newly acquired souls within it. He felt the copy of himself remerge with himself making him whole once more. He sent his familiar up to spy the wedding through a high up window and tells him when to go in on the phrase ' _If there is anyone here, who knows why these two should not be wed, please speak up now, or forever hold your peace.'_

Once the line was spoken, Dust cawed to him and he let his spiritual power surge forth and used his spiritual arms to blast the doors to the chapel open…

(Konoha Chapel – present time)

"I object to this wedding!" the figure at the door called out with his body being covered in shadow while blocking the light outside just before the pressure let up and people were able to move once again.

"Who the Hell are you? Furthermore how dare you interrupt this wedding. Who do you think you are to protest this sacred moment?" Tsunade called out while feeling a chill run up her spine at hearing the figure's voice.

There was something about it and the connection to the past.

"What's wrong Granny? I'm hurt you don't recognize me. Granted it has been a few years since my execution, but even your brain, as damaged by drinking sake as it is, should be able to remember what I told you in my cell? And how you should pray to the gods to keep my soul locked up so that I couldn't return? Well obviously neither you nor the village prayed hard or long enough since death only held onto me for less than a day before I was back and far more powerful than ever before. Is my identity starting to become clearer in your mind or are the long years of drinking heavily affecting your already troubled mind," asked the figure shadowed in sunlight with his blue eyes shining so they were seen by all who looked at him.

"No. No! It can't be you. You're dead!" exclaimed Tsunade, as she now recalled that little conversation, and yet the woman wanted to deny it.

"And yet here I am Granny! Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto IS BACK!" called out Naruto before stepping further into the room where the lighting washed away the shadow on his body, and any doubts they may have after he pulled off his mask and pulled down the hood of his cowl to show his face.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed happily at seeing the man she loved standing there in the flesh.

"It's impossible! It's a trick! Kakashi himself burned the body after Tsunade confirmed his death with a Chidori to the heart," spoke Jiraiya while Naruto just smirked at them.

"A trick? You don't believe I'm Naruto standing before you. That I'm not your former student. The failed weapon you killed out of some misguided need for revenge. Revenge for hurting Konoha's oh so precious Uchiha, who willingly fled to join Orochimaru for power, and couldn't care less if you all died the next day. Then there was your need to avenge the Yondaime and his wife after the Kyuubi attacked and was then sealed inside my body. You all cursed me to hell for something that was never my fault, and the humor in this whole situation is that I will never go there no matter how much you wish it since I have become something far more than any of your feeble minds could comprehend," said Naruto while ignoring the glares and shouts of hatred aimed at him for ruining this holy union.

"What are you getting at brat?" called out Jiraiya while Shinobi now moved to surround Naruto on all sides.

"What I'm getting at you old perverted fool, is that in your quest to control and kill me when I wouldn't be controlled, you set in motion event that made me the closest thing to a god that there is in the universe."

"How dare you disgrace the almighty Kami," shouted a random Nin, "you will burn in hell for all eternity for that and Kami will make it a reality." And as that as said, Naruto couldn't help but laugh at their utter stupidity.

"You truly believe that your so called 'Kami' will smite me as you so desperately wish. Yet not a single one of you fully understand or fully grasp what the Soul Plains was like when I died and entered it myself. There was no entrance into hell since there wasn't anyone to process the souls to enter it, and Kami isn't a god like you think. He is only a truly pure spirit that acts like a beacon to those who are worthy of entering Heaven and helps lead the way. But don't just take my word for it, since I will jut show you what I mean." Naruto then summoned up the soul of Deidara himself, his arm still broken and his legs still missing for souls were stuck in the form of how they died. With his soul in hand, Naruto crushed it to gather the energy held within and used it to summon up a large portal visible to all in the chapel. It showed them what both Heaven and Hell were like before and after he showed up to rearrange them into their current state.

"So what if all that is true? It means nothing!" said Kakashi while having his Sharingan exposed.

"It means everything! If you are just too arrogant to see the truth right before your very eyes, then I am not going to waste any more of my time trying to convince you," explained Naruto with Tsunade looking furiously at him.

"You lie!" called out a Shinobi to Naruto right.

"Stay in denial, for I no longer care to explain myself, I am here for one thing and one thing only, a simple trade," stated Naruto with Tsunade growling at him.

"And why do you think that we would trade anything with you," growled out Tsunade as she prepared to order her shinobi to capture him so that they could dissect him and see if his powers could be replicated.

"Because it would actually benefit you in a way," said Naruto, "and my deal is as such, you hand over Hinata to me and in return I will leave your village to destroy itself for the next ten years."

"You will not take from me what is rightfully mine," shouted Sasuke as he prepared to attack Naruto, to prove once and for all that he was finally able to surpass him and set the record straight.

"Well I disagree with that since the alternative to this deal is that I will unleash a destructive force capable of destroying everything in sight and use said power to destroy one third of the village."

Before anything else could be said or even done by any of the others in the Chapel, Sasuke used the power of his Sharingan to summon forth an enormous purple energy hand wielding a blade and used it to attempt to strike Naruto down. Yet the blade was stopped short from hitting its intended target by one of Naruto's spiritual arms, which even though was far smaller in size when compared to the size of Sasuke's Susanoo, yet it was far more powerful than the larger hand.

"Even after all this time Sasuke," chuckled Naruto as he saw Sasuke strain to try and break free of his arms grip yet it wouldn't budge. "You still have yet to learn when you are outclassed."

"I am an Elite," shouted Sasuke through gritted teeth, "and I am far superior to a nobody like you!"

"And I will repeat the last thing I said to you three years ago," said Naruto as his spiritual hand began to crush Sasuke's Susanoo arm and cracks appeared on it as the grip tightened. "Even in death, I am stronger than you." And with that, he crushed the arm in a way that it shattered. The backlash at having his Susanoo destroyed caused one of Sasuke's eyes to explode out of his head, and he fell to the ground and held his hand up to try and stem the bleeding. Medic Nin immediately appeared to assist in healing him.

"Arrest him now!" called out Tsunade with many Shinobi in the room moving in from all directions while Naruto simply looked bored at her.

"Dust," spoke Naruto with the command hidden within the name spoken.

In an instant, multiple dark blurs went through the entire army of Shinobi, and they all fell down on the ground brutally injured. Arms and legs were broken if not ripped out of their sockets. Some bodies were bent at odd angles with their backs broken or with internal bleeding from the hits to the torso. What had caused it was a massive flock of ravens that were magically enhanced with far greater strength and sharper beaks tore into his enemies.

"Those who are foolish enough to challenge Death itself only hasten their own demise."

"What are you," cried out one of the many injured Nin on the ground as he held his arm that had been literally torn off at the elbow by the massive flock of ravens.

"I go by many names now that I have been reborn into my new body. I am known as the Rider of the Pale Horse, the Rider of Death, Kinslayer, Executioner, The Reaper, The Shinigami, or my official title, _**Death.**_ "

"You will pay for this brat!" called Tsunade while Naruto looked from her to Hinata.

"Not today," Naruto stated simply, "now I will give you one more chance to take the deal I offered you before I was interrupted by Sasuke. So will you use your head for the first time in years or will you let your hatred consume your ability to think about the big picture."

"And why would you even offer us this choice in the first place," growled out Tsunade.

"Because unlike you, I can see into the hearts of men and see into your very souls themselves. While most of those who reside in this village are destined to suffer for all eternity in the very same hell you tried to damn me to, yet many of them have a shred of light still in their souls and have a chance to find redemption before their time is up. As the new Shinigami of the world I only kill those whose souls are purely darkened as well as those who challenge me. For to challenge death is foolish in itself. So what is your decision, will you forgo your misplaced hatred for me and allow those still capable of redemption the chance to find it, or will the rage fully consume you and damn all those in this village for your decision."

Yet before she could say anything in response, Sasuke, whose eye socked was healed to the point that blood was no longer flowing out of it, charged forward and struck Hinata through the heart from behind, killing her.

"You will never have what is rightfully mine," said Sasuke in pure rage as he threw her body to the side like it was nothing. Naruto used his Death Grip to grab ahold of her body with one hand while the other one grabbed ahold of her soul.

"You get your filthy hand off my mate demon," shouted Kiba as he rushed forward to tear out his throat with the claws in his hand. Naruto didn't flinch, he simply laid Hinata's body gently to the ground and then made a fist with his left hand. Once formed, he pointed his index finger as well as hi middle outwards and pointed them outwards. Underneath Kiba a spike made out of the earth itself pierced through his body at an angle that pierced through multiple vital organs, so there was no way in hell that he could be saved. He quickly died afterwards from blood loss and Naruto caught his soul with his left hand which then formed his dead body which just had a large hole in his neck.

"You claim Hinata to be your mate Kiba which is your clan's form of saying you are in love with someone," growled Naruto in fury since he had seen the way Kiba had been hitting on Hinata during school. Even though at the time he wasn't aware of the love she had for him, he still noticed his lustful advances towards her which she rejected every time and yet it never deterred him in any way. "Yet you didn't care for her as a person. You only cared for her body and wanted her for nothing more than to use as a form of sexual release. That isn't love you mutt that is lust. Yet since you claim to love her so much, find solace in the throes of non-existence that your death was useful in the way that she will survive while you don't." He then crushed Kiba's spirit and used the energy from it to restart hers. Once it was glowing, he channeled some of his Nephilim energy into it to start the process of transformation.

"You will live once more my love," whispered Naruto as he kissed her on the forehead before he used his clawed gauntlet to tear open a portal to the newly named Realm of the Nephilim so that her body wouldn't be disturbed during the process. "Be reborn as the horseman of Fury..." he then placed her gently through the portal and closed it up again. He looked at Tsunade and Sasuke who were still at the alter this whole time with a look of utter fury on his face worthy of the former Horseman of Fury herself.

"If only I had gotten here sooner I could have saved her from suffering the pain of death like I once suffered, I need the items that I collected."

"What items are you talking about," asked Tsunade as Naruto easily dodged a Rasengan thrown by Jiraiya and grabbed ahold of his arm. With a quick twist, his arm was broken in three sections and then threw him at Tsunade. She caught him and put him down as to help heal him with the aid of the other medic Nin still nearby.

"I collect the souls of the deceased and there was quite a few still within this village, tethered in place since they demanded that their clan be avenged before they could move on. Yet their only chance at being avenged was in the hands of quite literally the weakest of their clan. I collected the souls of the Uchiha to use in plans for the future."

"You dare desecrate the Uchiha like this," shouted Sasuke, "Release them at once!"

"I dare because I can, and yet out of all the souls of your clan tainted by the darkness in their lives, only your mother was capable of ascending into the heavens since her soul was full of light. She helped patch up some of my greatest wounds and I owed her my very life the one time she found me with my legs cut off and bleeding out. She sowed them back on and let the Kyuubi within me heal my legs back onto my body. The rest deserve what is coming to them for they are nothing more than a clan of traitors. And if you make any more demands of me I will end you quite easily and your so called ultimate power will not save you."

"Let my cla… AHH!" said Sasuke as Naruto didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence and simply shot him between the eyes, or eye and eyehole, with his pistol. Tsunade flinched in shock from seeing a strong shinobi like Sasuke get taken down so easily and by the dead last no less. Naruto repeated the process he had done for Hinata by taking the soul of one of the Uchiha clan and used its energy to restart Sasuke's soul. His body healed after Naruto threw his soul into his body, his destroyed eye heling up as well.

"I hope you are happy," said Naruto as he noticed that all the other Nin in the chapel had left to take those who were injured in his attacks to the hospital. So there was only the four of them. "Since for the second time in the history of this village, Sasuke Uchiha has doomed your village." And with that being said, Naruto used his power to summon forth the Kyuubi itself in all its demonic glory. It howled out in rage as it grew to its full size, breaking the chapel itself apart as he grew up. And as he reached his full size, he let out an earth shattering roar that caused fear to seep into all who heard it.

"Kyuubi," shouted Naruto, "destroy one third of the village…"

(A/N: Well there we go, one more Horseman is reborn, but can anyone else guess who they are going to be? Here is a quick hint, they will not be any of the other Jinchuriki.

 **Strife - angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict.**

So who do you think could fit the bill of becoming Strife? And War, who do we know that has been affected the most from War in the universe of Naruto)


	4. Settling the Score

(A/N: I am sorry that it took so long to update this story, but like I said in another story, I was waiting for the new Darksiders game to come out. I did so, played it and I laugh since I was guessing in the first chapter about the Charred Council's corruption, but it turned out to be true, so a pat on the back for me. Now that I have said my piece, allow me to continue the story.)

Konoha was in a state of severe panic, but then again what was one to expect when the demon that had been sealed away thirteen years prier returns in all of its demonic rage. The people had thought that it was gone forever, but seeing it with their own eyes sounded the alarm to every Shinobi that they were being attacked, and it caused outright panic among the village populous. They had long thought the bane of their village's existence had been removed with the death of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and could move on with the demon suffering in Hell. It was only fair in their eyes! The Kyuubi had taken so much from them and they deserved something back in return for the trouble the fox caused them thirteen years ago. That was what they believed. The Sandaime never told them otherwise, so not hearing anything to contradict what they believed, the village sought to hurt the boy holding the fox, and finally get their revenge by killing the brat. Only for the fox to return alive and far more pissed than he was the first time!

"You dare to unleash that demon on your home," shouted Tsunade as she was still shocked from all that had transpired within the last twenty minutes. They had just been about to wed Hinata to Sasuke when out of literally nowhere Naruto showed up and wrecked it before taking the body of Hinata away somewhere through a portal. Now he had just summoned the bane of their village to destroy as he said 'one third of the village'.

"I have unleashed the Kyuubi on a corrupt village filled with those whose very souls have been tainted black from greed and pride," said Naruto as he saw the Kyuubi smashing buildings in the immediate area. While the Kyuubi had so much more power than that at his disposal, Naruto had been clear to destroy only one third of the village so he couldn't use his full power or he would destroy more than that. "This is not my home. It never was."

"You ungrateful brat!"

"Ungrateful," asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow, "ungrateful for what exactly? Being beaten within an inch of my life since I took my first steps? MY first memory being one of pain since I had a knife stuck into me by a grown man who claimed destroyed his home and killed his family?"

"We allowed you to live as long as you did," shouted Tsunade, "since we could have killed you at any time. The seal placed on you would have killed the Kyuubi so that it wouldn't return. You are ungrateful for the life we allowed you to live in the first place."

"I would have honestly preferred death to what I was forced to go through. Naruto then felt as Sasuke was charging up another Chidori to attack behind him and charged forward to strike him while his back was turned. Naruto didn't even look at him as the purple spirit hand emerged from him and slammed Sasuke into the ground hard.

"Unhand me loser!" shouted Sasuke in rage since he was pissed that Naruto was so much stronger than him. For the love of god he had killed the dobe years ago and somehow he still was too strong to defeat.

"No," said Naruto with a smirk on his face, "I will not. I have put you in your proper place groveling at the foot of those stronger than you. You attacked me in anger because your ego is unaccepting of that fact alone that I am and have always been stronger. I could kill you easily as I just did not too long ago, but you are not worth the effort."

"You can't kill me," said Sasuke with a smirk on his face, "that was why you revived me in the first place. It is obvious that Kami favors me loser."

"Is that what you truly believe," said Naruto as he finally turned around to face the idiot that his arm still held down on the ground, "that Kami favors you?"

"It's obvious that he does since you were forced to revive me."

"If that is what you believe, then allow me to shatter your belief. The first thing you must know is that there are no gods as you think. While there is a Heaven as well as a Hell, they are not run by gods. Kami is only a spirit, one who was the purest of souls to ever exist. He ascended into the Heavens and became a beacon to those with light in their souls to lead them to their proper resting place. He does not have the power that you think he does."

"Then why revive me at all dobe? Afraid that when I die I will be granted even more power than you were when I killed you?"

"No Sasuke," as Naruto leaned down and used the sharp edge of his gauntlet to stab through one of his eyes. He relished the sound of screams that followed. "I simply don't care to kill you since it is not my job to do so. But make no mistake, your death will come for you sooner than you imagine." He then punched Sasuke in the back of the head hard enough to knock him out.

Tsunade at this point had finally come to her full senses as Naruto stood back up and wiped the blood and eyeball juice off his finger. She grew far angrier than she had ever been in her life, and charged forward with her fist pulled back. She punched Naruto square in the head in hopes that that would kill him. The power behind it blasted outwards in a shockwave that toppled the nearby buildings that the Kyuubi had not destroyed himself.

Yet her victorious smirk quickly turned into a look of shock and horror as she saw Naruto still standing there with a look of indifference. He had not moved a single centimeter from where she hit him, nor had he suffered any sort of damage from her attack. He simply grabbed her hand that she had punched him with and squeezed it hard. Tsunade screamed in pain as she felt her hand break and saw her bones were now sticking out of it.

"Is your arrogance so great," started Naruto as he let go of her hand, "that you honestly believed that you had the power to defeat Death itself?"

"What the hell are you?!"

"I am of a race that had long been extinct. Yet a bit of their power remained and in my death I was gifted with that power that transformed me into what I am. I am Nephalem, the blood of angels as well as demons flows through my body and it is because of that fact alone that you cannot kill me. No mortal man, or woman, has the power to do so. Only a weapon forged within the Heavens or the depths of Hell have the power to hurt me. And unlucky for you there are several of those weapons in the realm of man as we speak."

"And why is that unlucky for us," said Tsunade, who was mentally preparing to send out all the shinobi she could after this was all over to find these weapons Naruto spoke of so as to kill the brat again in a way that he will stay dead this time.

"Simple," said Naruto with a smirk since he knew that Tsunade was hoping she could find them and use them against him, "I wield every last one of them on my person."

Tsunade took this bit of information hard, but before she could act on it Kakashi appeared behind Naruto and attacked him with a Raikari to the back near the heart area so as to pierce through his heart. But just like with Tsunade his attack did nothing to him but made him smile, which to be honest made Kakashi feel very scared at the moment.

"Ah," said Naruto as he grabbed Kakashi's arm and twisted it to the point that his bones were audibly heard breaking. Kakashi screamed in pain as he did this, but Naruto didn't care about it in the slightest. "If it isn't my old failure of a teacher. So like you to attack me from behind, but then again you did the same thing several times in the past in your attempt to kill me."

"You are nothing more than a monster," said Kakashi through strained teeth.

"I am not a monster," said Naruto as he shook his head, "I am simply the force of balance that is needed to maintain order on levels of existence that you will never understand. Even while I was alive I was the fable 'child of prophecy' and if I was allowed to live long enough I would have been the force of balance the world needed. My death did not change my purpose, only my person as well as my outlook of things."

"Your father would be ashamed of you for what you are doing to this village. You were meant to be a weapon for our use to eliminate all the other villages upon command, and then submit so that when a child was born from your seed we would have another weapon for the future!"

"And yet I am controlled by no one," chuckled Naruto as he pointed to the Kyuubi himself, as he did, he made a mental command that Kyuubi heard to smash the hospital and the orphanage he grew up in since while it was true that it helped get kids fed and the like, in reality it was privately funded by Danzo and his associates who took those kids and turned them into ROOT shinobi. And no one cared about orphan children that was why they were orphaned in the first place since when their parents died they had no one else to care for them. "And neither will he since he listens to me and me alone. And while you make think that my father smiled from up high in the heavens all these years while you and the rest of the village made my life a literal hell to live, they were not. My father lies in the belly of the former Shinigami and has no idea of what has been happening in the world since he has been in there. And yet that sort of fate was tame in comparison to my mother since her spirit was stuck here in this village. She was tethered to me since she as well as my father placed a tiny bit of their souls into me to aid me if ever came the case where the seal for the Kyuubi weakened in some sort."

"So killing you saved her soul," said Tsunade with a smug grin, "so I was right to kill you."

"Do you really believe that," said Naruto as he glared at Tsunade as he heard her say this. He quickly kicked Kakashi in both kneecaps so that they broke and he would stay in one place for a bit since he was not done with him yet. "Do you truly see yourself as some sort of avenger? Because in her eyes you are not. You are a traitor to all that the Uzumaki as well as the Senju clan stand for. She saw as the village hurt me, saw how you yourself treated me as you left me to rot to go gamble away your money. She cried consistently seeing that her son was in pain and that she was powerless to stop it. Your hand in the order of my death did not avenge her; it only solidified her hatred for you. While it is true that my death freed her soul to finally find her way to her eternal resting place, she will not thank you for it, nor will you ever get the chance to try and explain yourself to her since with how dark your soul is you are destined to be sent to the lowest depths of Hell. Ironic that it is the same place that you wanted me to go."

"I am more than deserving of a rightful place in heaven. Who do you think you are to deny me that? What gives you the right to judge me?"

"Hello pot meet kettle, have we met," said Naruto to which Tsunade looked puzzled as he said that, "I'm calling you a hypocrite since you judged me to death, and by what right did you have to do that?"

"I am the Hokage and you were one of the Shinobi under my command. So if I ordered your execution then I was within my right."

"Just as I am within my right to judge you now since I am the Shinigami. It is my job to judge the souls of the dead. That is my life's purpose now thanks to you and the rest of the filth in this village."

"You just won't let me see Kushina because you know she would agree with my actions to have you killed."

"And would you be willing to bet on that," asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"And what do you mean by that," said Tsunade in a pissed off voice, but was shushed when Naruto pulled out his scythes and reappeared behind her with one of them curved around her neck while the other one was pointed near her midsection.

"I mean exactly as I said. Would you, the woman the gambling community knows as the Legendary Sucker, be willing to bet your very life itself that she would agree with your views?"

Tsunade lost all the color in her face at this point because not only were his weapons pointed at vital areas of her body, but somewhere in the back of her mind was a small bit of her brain that had always been shouting at her about the fact that her actions towards Naruto were pissing off her ancestors. But the rest of her mind and her anger towards the brat had always snuffed it out over the years. Now that her mind had but all but gone blank she could hear that bit of her brain clear as day. She remained silent since she didn't know how to answer that.

"I didn't think so," said Naruto as he pulled his weapons away from her body and clipped them back onto his belt. He then walked back towards Kakashi to finish what he started, but stopped as Tsunade had acted in impulse and stolen one of his guns from its holster.

"You will not win," said Tsunade with all the anger that she could muster as she pointed it towards him.

"That won't work," said Naruto calmly.

"You said it yourself that the weapons that you wield are capable of killing you." Tsunade said with a grin as she pulled the trigger. Yet her grin disappeared once she did since the gun did not fire as she expected.

"What I meant was that it won't work because you have neither the power nor the knowledge of how to use it," said Naruto as he held out his hand. The gun violently ripped from her hands, break two of her fingers as it did, and flew back into his outstretched hand. He twirled it in his hand with a flourish before he holstered it once more. He then continued towards Kakashi, who saw him walking towards him and threw a kunai in defiance of this monster in front of him. The kunai bounced off him harmlessly, and when it did Naruto grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up off the ground to the point that his feet were not on the ground.

"I am so very glad that you have seen fit to attack me," said Naruto as he grabbed his mask that was clipped on his belt in the rear. "You see, even as I am there are rules that I must follow to keep the balance of the world secured. The first of which is simply that I can't kill just because I want to do so since while it is my job to judge the souls of the world, it is not mine to kill those who piss me off. Yet there is an exception to that rule, and lucky former you have induced it."

"And what rule is that," gargled Kakashi since Naruto was keeping a tight grip on his throat.

"Those who challenge Death itself I can kill," said Naruto with a grin on his face that sent shivers down his spine. "For to challenge death itself is suicide in execution. Now I remember when we first met once I returned as you see me now. You asked me about this mask that is in my hand since you believed that it would grant you power, or if not you than the Uchiha since you favored him too damn much. Allow me to grant your selfish request." Naruto then slammed the mask onto Kakashi's face hard. Kakashi felt as the power within the mask grabbed ahold of his soul and bound it tightly with energy that was cold and devoid of all signs of life. Once attached, Naruto ripped the mask off his face, doing so ripped the soul out as well. He grabbed it with his hand and held it near his Soul amulet. It was quickly sucked into it and thus ended the life of Kakashi.

"While I am within my right to kill you as well," said Naruto to Tsunade who was in shock to see Kakashi's soul being ripped out so violently, as he donned his mask once more, "I will allow you to live."

"And why the sudden change of heart brat," said Tsunade since she couldn't really think of a reason for him to not even attempt to kill her after all the crap he had been through.

"Because you are not worth it," said Naruto as he began to walk to where Kyuubi was finishing up his rampage, "but let me tell you this in parting. The entirety of both sides of your family has been told what you have done, and they are not pleased with your actions. You have committed the ultimate sin in their eyes and they have pronounced you not only dead to them, but have been renounced as a clan member from either of them."

"You lie!" shouted Tsunade in shock that he would even say that.

"Look deep within the dark pit inside of you that you call a soul," said Naruto as he once more continued to walk away, "and you will know that what I said was true. Enjoy what little life you have left former Uzumaki Senju Tsunade, for soon your death will come for you in the form of the person you loved the most of all." And with that, Naruto was finally out of earshot…

(Center of the Village)

Kyuubi stood at the center of the village, his orders now completed, as he waited for Naruto to return once more and send him back to the realm he had been sealed within. Now from an outside perspective this may sound bad if you heard that someone or something was forced to go through this sort of treatment, but in reality it was far from it. In the realm that he was sealed in he was able to shape the world as he saw fit, and to be honest all he wanted was peace and quiet since all he had known throughout his life was war, death, hatred and finally imprisonment. Now he had the chance to finally relax as he had always wanted. He was fairly sure that his brother Shikaku was the same way, but their realms were different so there was no way to tell.

"It would seem as if the gods themselves have seen fit to send me what I desired," said a voice that brought Kyuubi out of his thoughts and made him look to see who had said such a stupid thing. And to his disgust there was Danzo along with his ROOT shinobi and his two lackeys that made up the Shinobi Council. What surprised him though was the fact that Danzo had not only two arms even though all memories he had of the man from Naruto showed he had only one. But he also saw that the extra one was a deformed looking one with multiple Sharingan implanted into it along with another one in lea of his normal right eye.

"For years I have wanted the Kyuubi Jinchuriki as a weapon to take over this village," said Danzo with a smile on his face since he had waited so long for this moment, "and yet Hiruzen denied me what was rightfully mine. And then the brat had to overstep his purpose and we were forced to terminate him so that he wouldn't be a threat to us in the future. I was angry since doing that killed you as well because of the seal on his body. But here you are, like a present wrapped up for me." Danzo then held out his arm and pulsed chakra through it to activate multiple Sharingan in his arm so as to control the beast.

"From this day forward you are my tool and will follow my commands. Now I order you to sit." And to his glee, the Kyuubi listened to his order. "Now kneel before your master." Yet the Kyuubi didn't do that. Danzo grew angry that the beast refused him and repeated his command several times, yet he didn't listen.

"That will not work on him," said Naruto as he appeared in front of the Kyuubi, "the reason he sat down was not because of you, but because I told him to do so."

"So the village weapon returns to us even more powerful than before," said Danzo as he snapped his fingers. When he did Naruto became surrounded by ROOT shinobi that had lied in wait to spring this trap on their master's command. "Now I will do as I was denied the first time and turn you intone of my ROOT. As well as find a way to take the power you have for myself since you are undeserving of such a thing."

"The darkness within your soul is beyond description," said Naruto as he stood there unafraid of the ROOT surrounding him since none of them had the means to hurt him in any sense of the word. "And it is because of that fact alone that I must personally terminate you to ensure that you don't cheat death once more."

"I don't think so. Men subdue him."

His ROOT moved to do as he had ordered, but they all stopped when they felt a surge of power open up a rift between them and Naruto. Out of the rift walked out a woman whose hair was tied up into a braid and reached her back. She had gauntlets on her hand that were sharp at the tip, as well as a sword handle at her hip. Her eyes were pale with no pupil, and yet they could see that they were filled with an inhuman amount of Fury. She wore what appeared to be her old shinobi uniform, but if you were to look closer you would see that it was made of a strange metal that was just as flexible as cloth yet with the resilience of metal. This woman was none other than Hinata Hyuga, the newly made Horseman of Fury...

"It seems as though the transformation went well," said Naruto as he saw her standing there. But before he could say anything more, she had moved faster than he could track, which surprised him that that was even possible, grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed her lips onto his after ripping his mask off. She kissed him hard with all the lust her body could muster at the moment, to which Naruto reciprocated. For about a minute they did this before they were forced to part lips.

"We are far from done with this," said Hinata with a smile on her face.

"On that we are in agreement," said Naruto as he put the mask back on his face, "but I would seem as though you need a bit of exercise to test out your new powers. And as luck would have it there is a group of volunteers her to do just that. So you handle the ROOT Shinobi while I'll handle Danzo himself."

"Sounds good to me," said Hinata as she pulled out the blade handle from her side. As she did, the rest of her weapon appeared in a red glow. The ROOT once more attacked as they were ordered. She attacked their forces head on with the grace of a ballerina dancer, yet the tenacity of a seasoned veteran. She slew all who opposed her with her whip blade in various fashions that left the members of ROOT with missing limbs and severed bodies. While all this was happening, Naruto simply walked towards Danzo casually while he whistled a very unnerving tune.

Danzo backed away from him as he used the power of the Sharingan to try and control him, but it didn't work since not only was his will too strong to be controlled, one does not simply control death like that. When he saw that Naruto was immune to his Sharingan, he used the Mokuton power of his arm to send wave after wave of wooden tendrils to subdue him. Yet even that failed since all Naruto had to do was unclip his scythes and used them to cut the tendrils down without missing a step. His actions at flawlessly defending against his attacks unnerved Danzo greatly.

In a move of utter desperation he threw Koharu and Homura at him as he attempted to run for his life so as to regroup and form a plan to subdue the boy into a weapon in the future. They landed at Naruto's feet, and immediately began to beg for mercy. They mentioned how it was all Danzo's fault and that they never saw him as a monster or a weapon. Naruto knew that this was all bullshit, but he still walked past them to their relief. Naruto made sure to cut that relief short as he threw his scythes behind him. They flew through the air and decapitated both of the old fossils before they returned to his hands like a boomerang.

Danzo was trying to run, but his old age made that hard for him since he didn't have his cane to support him. He didn't get very far though since the Kyuubi walked to where he was running to and laid down in the road. Danzo was trapped since there were buildings on both sides of him and the only way to go now was the way he had come from, but that was out of the question for him since that would just lead him back to the one he was trying to run away from.

"Well would you look at the situation you are in now," said Naruto as he stood several yards away from Danzo effectively blocking the only escape route he had, "you have gotten yourself cornered without so much as a single person left to throw away so that you can live but a few seconds longer. You see the problem with that sort of mentality is that you eventually run out of pawns and then what do you do when that happens?"

"I will not be lectured by a brat like you," said Danzo in defiance, "I am your superior and as such I order you to stand down."

"See this is why I must deal with you personally," said Naruto as he pointed at him,"your soul is one of the darkest to exist throughout history. While there are many that are darkened by their actions, yours is unique in the fact that the darkness of your soul is so potent that it can actually corrupt the very souls of others."

"That is preposterous!"

"Who are you trying to fool Danzo," said Naruto as he shook his head, "for I see your soul clear as day. You have taken men, women, and children throughout the Elemental Countries and forced them into your ROOT shinobi. You killed their families and loved ones just so that you would have more soldiers. If that act alone wasn't bad enough you took away everything from them. Their will, their individuality, their minds, and last but not least, their very emotions to make them into these hollow husks that are shells of what they once were."

"Emotions make a person weak and so I stamped them out," said Danzo in defense of his tactics, "and I am above everyone, even the supposed Shinigami that you call yourself."

"And yet you yourself retain your emotions," said Naruto as he took out both his scythes and slammed them together, doing so transformed them into a bigger one. "So that makes you a hypocrite as well as a blight upon the world of the living. And as for your statement about being above me." Naruto then quickly activated his Reaper form and slashed at Danzo in a downward arc. Danzo was not expecting something like this and had not time to dodge the attack in any way, so his soul was ripped out of his body, and as it was his body was slammed to the ground from the force of the swing itself. Naruto grabbed ahold of Danzo's soul, which while the normal souls of the world were blueish, his was jet black.

"See now that you will forever keel before death as do all who live," said Naruto as he forced the man to see his now dead body on the ground. Naruto then summoned Dust and his flock of raven to swarm the body and tear it apart. They did so and flew with the pieces they had to find a place to properly dispose of the body parts. Naruto then held out a flask he had gotten for this very moment and placed Danzo's soul within it. It had a seal on it to keep the contents within contained so there was no chance to escape.

With his task for the Kyuubi finished, he sent him away back to his own realm. Naruto heard the cries of the spirits who were waiting to be judged and cross over into the heavens that they believed they were worthy of, but Naruto knew better than them on the subject. He held out his Soul Amulet and felt as all the souls of the recently slain get sucked into it. Once the process was done, he smiled since he now had enough souls to complete his plan, but he still needed to find Strife and War. As if on cue, Hinata showed back up and kissed him again.

"So are we done here," asked Hinata since she wanted to leave this place behind and never look back.

"We are," said Naruto as he summoned up Despair and mounted him. He held out his hand to pull up Hinata, but before she grabbed it she heard a voice shouting at her from behind.

"Hinata Hyuga, get away from that monster!"

Hinata scowled as she heard that being said and even more so since she easily recognized the voice. It was her old sensei Kurenai who for the past several years had been telling her to stop her feelings she had for Naruto. Hell, she all but wanted her married to Sasuke and pregnant with his child just so that she would forget him.

"What do you want woman," growled Hinata with fury in her voice, "because if you don't mind I have three years of pent up sexual frustration and the man I love is here to satisfy them. So if you don't mind I will be leaving now." Naruto smirked as she said this since he had a feeling that that was where this was going he just didn't want to say anything.

"I am your sensei and you will listen to me," said Kurenai in anger that Hinata was talking back to her. "You have so much potential as a kunoichi Hinata. So much more than anyone else from your age group or near it. And you are just going to throw it all away! And for what? Just to be the mother of his child. To be his devoted loving housewife! You deserve better than that!"

"And what makes you think I would have demeaned Hinata in such a way as to keep her from reaching such potential? I always knew Hinata was strong for as long as I have known her. I believed in her when no one, not even you, believed in her. For Kami's sake, her clan put Hinata down for years, yet you did nothing against it. A 'clan matter' people called it. You hide behind your technicalities and moral obligations to not interfere in family affairs, but we both know Hinata should never have suffered at the hand of her clan. Even after my death years ago, you still preferred that your former student live the life under the thumb of the clan that oppressed her over me. ME! You tried to squash the love she had for me by forcing her to marry Sasuke, a man who didn't love her in any sense of the word and was only marrying her to get back at me in some fashion?" said Naruto while Kurenai's hatred for him was wavering for only a second before it returned.

"He was far more deserving of her than you ever will be," she said with a glare.

"More deserving," said Hinata as her hair began to glow red to show that her levels of fury were rising, "Naruto loved me with all his heart, and even when he was killed for bringing that traitor back to the village he still made it back to the realm of the living and saved me because of his love for me. Sasuke killed me. Literally killed me in front of a live audience just because he wanted to see Naruto suffer. How is someone like that more deserving of my love than a man who won't let even death itself stop him from returning to the love of his life."

"Because he is the Kyuubi!" shouted Kurenai who was pissed that Hinata was not seeing things like her and the rest of the village had for years.

"And yet the fact that the Kyuubi himself attacked the village and I am still alive and standing here is not a clear sign to you that I am not the beast itself?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"It only proves it more than ever that the two of you are the same thing."

It was at this point that Hinata had had enough of this pointless argument since Kurenai wasn't going to change her views since she was so damn stubborn. Even when the evidence of her being wrong was presented she refused to believe it. So Hinata quickly swiped downwards twice with her whip blade, doing so cut Kurenai's arms off at the shoulder. She screamed in pain of course since it was to be expected in such an event, and then threw the handle at her open mouth. The sword entered as she screamed, but instead of it piercing out the back of her head, the blade bent and went down her throat. It punctured through her stomach and cut through multiple organs. Hinata then held her hand out to summon her sword back, and as it returned to her hand, the blade dragged her intestines out her mouth as it retracted. Once the blade was in her hand, she used her magic to heat up the blade to cause the intestines to light aflame and burned her former sensei's now deceased body. Naruto saw as she finished up and once more held out his hand to pull her onto the horse. And once on it, they made their way towards their newest destination, for while Naruto had all the souls he needed, the Horsemen were still incomplete…


	5. Setting things right

(A/N: Sorry that it takes me so long to write these chapters, but it's a combination of my job reaching its busy season as well as other stories on my mind that I work on. I work slowly on these stories a bit at a time while my mind is clear with good ideas. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and sorry in advance if it takes long for the next one.)

Naruto sat high up on a hill that overlooked the forest area that made up the edge of Kiri. Naruto sat there with Hinata, who was absolutely glowing at the moment with a content smile on her face as she hummed to herself. When she had mentioned to Kurenai that she had three years of sexual frustration she needed to go through, she was not exaggerating in the slightest since she had Naruto in his bed for days on end. Inhuman stamina made it so he didn't have to stop at all and he made sure by the time he was done with her that she was cross-eyed with her tongue sticking out of her mouth. It had been three months since his appearance at Konoha that left the village in such disarray since one third of the village had been destroyed.

And while Hinata was stuck in bed passed out in a sexual coma, Naruto had been busy wandering the rest of the vast area that made up the Land of the Dead. This place acted as the planes of limbo in the past and so he wanted it to be so once more once the full order of the Universe was restored. And now that he thought about it he needed a new Lord of Bones to run this place when this was all done. The place was vast, nearly infinite with the possibility of expanding over time. He had taken the time to literally sever a huge continent sized chunk of land by punching the ground hard at intervals that broke it away from the mainland to build his future home for the Nephilim. And as he was breaking apart the land to make it so, he found some things that had helped to restore order. The first thing he found was the skeletal remains of the giant serpent like creatures that had once carried the Lord of Bones castle back when he had been around. It took some time, but with their remains he was able to find their wandering souls. With them in hand he was able to resurrect the both of them, but made sure to make them far larger than before since while they were able to carry a castle, they were now tasked to pull a continent far off into the air so that the lost souls who were meant to wander this place could not reach their home.

He also found a seed within the sea of barren wasteland, which as he held it in his hand he felt a great power within it. Going off the memories of Death from the past, he knew that this seed was from the Tree of Life itself, and as such was the gateway to other realms that he was incapable of getting to already. He planted the tree on another piece of land, one that was separated from the rest of the mainland that was connected by a bridge. He knew that there would have to be someone to guard this place in the future from any souls that may try to head through it, but for the time being there was no need since there was no one here other than Hinata and himself. Hinata took care of the seed of the Tree, which helped make it grow, and as she did he put the finishing touches on this plane.

The last thing he had found had surprised him immensely since according to Death's memories all of them should have been dead, yet here in a magically sealed stasis capsule was a large female Maker. He opened the capsule up through his own power, and freed her from its confines. It took a bit, but she awoke from her slumber in due time.

The Maker's name was Alya, and she had been put to sleep and in the capsule by her brother Valus since he feared for her safety during the apocalypse. And to make sure that no one found her he had called in his only favor with the demon Vulgrim to hide it in the Land of the Dead. No one would think to look for her there since Maker's did not end up there in death. Naruto went on to explain to her how the world was now, and that her services were needed to once more Forge the Seals that would place the Barriers up to keep Heaven and Hell contained and separated from the other realms. She agreed to this, but she said that she would need the forges in the Forge Lands to do so, which he just smiled and said that she would be able to get there soon enough, but for the time being he asked her if she could help build homes for his people to live in. She just laughed and told him that it was an easy task and began to do so.

As she began to build what would become the home of his people, Naruto had taken the time to channel the souls he had collected from the Uchiha clan as well as the Konoha citizens into spiritual energy with that of a Nephilim. As he destroyed their souls to make the energy, he heard their screams of rage at being denied their self-entitled place in Heaven for their treatment of the demon in his youth. It took some time to complete the process so but in the end he was able to fully resurrect his clan into the newest generation of Nephilim themselves. While they were stronger than they were when they were still alive, but since they did not have the power gifted to them by the Chard Council that was passed down from their weapons into the newest Horsemen. The Soul Amulet shattered once the process was done since its purpose had been fulfilled. They were all happy to be alive again in, even as they were. And out of the crowd came his mother Kushina, who hugged him with all the love she could give while the tears flowed from her eyes in streams.

Naruto had simply hugged her back with tears in his eyes as well. Once all the pleasantries were over with, they helped Alya with the designing of their homes. While they did this, Naruto took Hinata, only after another bout of hardcore sex, back to the realm of Man to await the end of the battle that was set to happen shortly. He had Dust keep a close eye on things, and even discretely left vital information and even a complex seal to prevent their leader from taping into the power of the Biju he held for the rebels to aid them in ending this civil war once and for all. And here he sat on the hill awaiting the end. The rebels had the advantage from the aid he had given them, and while he would have liked to aid them himself in honor of his old friend Haku, he still had rules that he must abide by to maintain balance.

The battle was long and bloody, with many casualties on both sides of it. And as Naruto sat there the souls of the dead flowed to him to judge as well as Hinata. Those who were worthy of heaven ascended, and those who weren't, were cast down into the fiery depths. But those with enough light in their souls for a chance of redemption were sent to the land of the Dead to begin their journey of atonement. The wait was long, but finally the civil war ended and the Soul that Naruto was hoping for came into his grasp.

"So we meet at last," said Naruto as the soul solidified into its human form.

"Where am I?" asked the soul as it rubbed its head to try and make sense of all of this.

"You are dead Yagura," said Naruto, "and you are nothing more than a spirit now. Your actions have caused many lives to suffer and as it stands your soul is darkened by your deeds. As you are now your soul would be sent to the depths of hell."

"But what I did was not my fault," said Yagura with a worried look on his face since he did not want to suffer for an eternity for an action that was not of his own volition, "I was brainwashed into doing what I did. That person made me into a monster that so many people hated over my life!"

"I believe you," said Naruto calmly as he stood there, "but even though that may be true your soul is still tainted. Yet I am here to offer you another choice."

"And what choice is that?"

"Since you are incapable of entering Heaven because of all this, my offer is to simply join me in helping to restore balance the Universe. Become one of the four Horsemen alongside myself and my wife to save yourself from a fate you do not deserve."

"What are the Horsemen," aske Yagura with a raised eyebrow since he had never heard of such a thing in his lifetime.

"There is much history to tell you," said Naruto with a bit of a sigh since it would take a while to explain it to him, "but for the moment all you really need to know is that long ago there were four Horsemen that helped to maintain balance. One was the embodiment of Death, and that is what I became when I died. There was Fury, who my wife has taken the title when she passed on. There was War as well as Strife. You were forced to start a war against those with bloodlines. As such I believe you are perfect for the role as War."

"You would offer me such power?"

"I would," said Naruto as he unsealed the gauntlet that War himself wore when he lived and held it out towards Yagura. "Will you join us brother?"

Yagura grabbed the gauntlet that had been offered him and held it in both his hands since it was fairly large. As he held it, he felt the power that was hidden within it. The memories of War and his struggles to try and prove his innocence to a corrupt Chard Council. Yagura thought hard on whether or not he was worthy of such power, but it was either that burn in hell for an eternity. So with his mind made up he placed the gauntlet on his hand, and as he did he screamed out in pain as his very soul solidified. The process took several minutes, but in the end he was alive once more with an outfit similar to War's in the past, but tailored to his short height. He even held out his hand and as he did the sword Chaoseater appeared in his hands. He twirled it once to get a feel for it before he sheathed it on his back. Yagura whistled, and as he did his horse Ruin appeared from the ground in red flames. Yagura jumped on and spurred his horse through a portal to his new home, but not before nodding at Naruto in gratitude for offering him another choice like this…

(Konoha)

For the past three months after the Kyuubi's second attack on the village, the village had been in a complete state of despair. It had taken the full three months to fully repair what had been damaged when the Kyūbi was unleashed. It wouldn't have taken so long in the past, but the fact that they had no allies to aid them for supplies only made the process far slower than it should haves been. But now that the village was repaired back to what it was before the attack, the heads of the village were now in the meeting room to discuss exactly what to do now.

The Fire Daimyo had helped them to repair the damage done to the village since he had supported their cruel and unethical actions over the years. He had been assured that the former Jinchuriki would be brought to heel and that by doing so would be able to take everything of value that belonged to Naruto when the time came for him to legally acquire it. Unlike the Fire Daimyo's predecessor, this one did not believe any Jinchuriki were deserving of being labeled humans, and it was the same for any other variation of them. This included what Naruto had become since his execution that the Daimyo had signed off on since he had been told that the plan was not working as it should have and he was becoming too strong to control as he was. And so he wished to squash any kind of rights he may have had to claim on the family holdings. Sure his shinobi village lost its weapon against the others, but since Naruto was now dead and there were no other Uzumaki to claim their clan's belongings, he simply had to wait three years for him to be able to legally take their former country and riches that had gained interest over the years in the Fire Countries Bank in the capital.

To the Fire Daimyo, all Jinchuriki were considered abominations, tools to be used in war, and only to be used as a last resort when the war escalated. Until then, a Shinobi village could do whatever they wanted to the Jinchuriki, provided it wasn't betraying him in some way, or usurping his rule over the entire country that he ruled. The only reason Kushina or Uzumaki Mito weren't treated like that was due to the previous Fire Daimyos and the family of both Jinchuriki being there for them while keeping their status as Jinchuriki a secret. The current Fire Daimyo had no intention of being like them and so he had allowed the brat to suffer to stamp out his will to fight back, so that when he came later in life to meet him in person, he would tell Naruto a lie to get him to foolishly sign away his inheritance in return for personal security so the villagers couldn't hurt him anymore. It was a lie, since he wasn't going to embrace the Jinchuriki in friendship like his Father and his Father before him would have done in his place. No, he would now simply wait to get what he wanted…

But that plan was destroyed simply a week ago…

The rebuilding of Konoha had nearly bankrupted their country since after Naruto's death none of the other countries had wanted to do business with a place that killed off a hero such as him. So the timing of the sudden increase of wealth was perfect to not only refill their treasury, but to obtain even more funds then they had in the first place. He had counted the days with glee with only a week and a half left to claim his prize. Yet out of the blue an armed escort from Suna led by Gaara and his sister had arrived in their capital to meet with him. The Fire Daimyo had at first thought that they had come to discuss the means of a new alliance, but that was not the case.

They had come and showed him the signed deed to all that had belonged to the Uzumaki clan. The Fire Daimyo had been absolutely livid about what he presumed was a theft of what was rightfully his to claim. But they had a signed deed which had been signed by Naruto himself, so there wasn't a damn thing that he could do about it. So he was forced to watch as they cleaned out the vault that held all their money within it. The Fire Daimyo was so very tempted to attack them and claim it for himself, but a couple of major reasons stopped him from doing that. The first being that Gaara would simply kill him and as a Jinchuriki he would be unstoppable, and the second was that even though his country was not at war at the moment if he attacked the Suna escort it would become an international crisis and everyone would join together to fight them.

And as they left with what they came for, The Fire Daimyo could only look on in pure rage since there was nothing else he could do…

While there had been a meeting immediately following the attack on Konoha by Naruto, it had been mostly about how to repair the village as quickly as possible so as to not be caught unprepared if another village decided to attack them out of the blue. From what Jiraiya's spy network was able to learn, both Iwa as well as Kumo wanted to do that, but by the time they came up with a plan of attack Konoha was back to what it once was so they lost the advantage and aborted the plan for now. Now that the village wasn't being threatened due to massive damage they were able to discuss far more pressing matters.

"How is the brat even still alive," growled Tsume as they discussed said pressing matter by the name of Naruto. She had always hated the brat while he was alive. She had been in love with the Yondaime Hokage, even before he became the Hokage, and was jealous of Kushina for having his attention like many other women in the village. She had grown very upset with the way her life had gone following marrying her inferior husband that was via an arranged marriage set up by her mother and was always furious as she saw how Minato was with Kushina the whole time instead of her. In her mind she could have given him a child, if not wishing her two children were his, and he was living with them while raising them as a family. After the Kyuubi did attack, she instantly knew that Naruto was their child so she planned to get the entire clan to hate and abuse him. She would exact revenge on the Kyuubi for killing the Yondaime and against Kushina for loving him and marrying him in secret. Not to mention Naruto being their child was an insult in her eyes, and that said insult had to be...fixed. "We killed him in front of everyone! He should be burning in hell right now!" Tsume had been on a mission during the wedding so she had not seen the images that Naruto had shown them. Plus she heard that her son was killed by the brat she hated with all her heart, which made this whole situation worse for her already enraged emotions.

"He somehow acquired the power of the Shinigami in death," said Tsunade as she rubbed her head in frustration since she had tried to figure out how the brat was alive for three months with the help of Jiraiya, and while she got an answer from Naruto himself when he had crashed the wedding, she still didn't fully understand it. "So he has somehow overthrown the older Shinigami and taken his position."

"So if we were to prepare a proper means to," started Shikaku in deep thought, "we could summon the kid here and seal him away with the proper seals and turn him into a weapon for our village once more. And also gain the Kyuubi as well since he controls it somehow with his gauntlet if what I have heard was right."

"That does actually sound like a good plan," said Jiraiya as he thought about it, "but I think that we will need the aid of a being on the same level as Naruto is now."

"So what are you suggesting exactly," asked Inoichi.

"Simple," said Jiraiya, "we summon the Shinigami, the former one to be exact to aid us."

The people in the room looked at him in shock once he said that since in their minds this idea was truly and utterly insane.

"Jiraiya," said Tsunade, "must I have you sent to a mental ward? Because out of all the things I have heard come out of your mouth that has got to be the most insane thing I have ever heard you say in your life."

"I'm not as crazy as you think I am," said Jiraiya as he shook his head, "but think about it fully. If Naruto somehow took the mantle as Shinigami then that means the former one will more than likely be pissed that his power was taken from him and would appreciate the assist to knock Naruto down a peg or two. So I say we summon him and offer our assistance on the issue."

"But summoning the Shinigami requires the soul of a living person," said Choza, finally getting into this discussion, "so who would be willing to sacrifice themselves to summon the deity?"

"That is easy. We will use Sasuke for the sacrifice." Said Jiraiya with a serious look on his face as he said it.

"To hell you will!" shouted Sasuke as he stood up in defiance of what was being said. When Naruto had returned him years ago, the village had done all in its power to appease him so that he would not think about trying to defect again since they needed the Sharingan in the village now more than ever since their jinchuriki was dead and gone. They had given him a seat as the clan head of the Uchiha clan, even though he was the only one within the village, along with the arranged marriage to Hinata. They all knew that Sasuke was not marrying her out of love but as a way to stick it to Naruto in some way but they didn't care about her feelings on the matter and just wanted her to be forced into submission.

Sasuke would have most likely done something brash at this moment, but two ANBU suddenly appeared behind him and restrained him. They cuffed him with chakra suppression cuffs so he wouldn't struggle too much, and they did their job fairly well since he wasn't even able to change his eyes and activate his Sharingan.

"I agree with this idea," said Shibi calmly as his clan was known to do.

"You fucking traitor!" Shouted Sasuke in rage that someone who for years had supported him had just suddenly stopped doing so.

"Well then," said Tsunade as she got the attention of all of the people in the meeting, "all in favor of using Sasuke as a sacrifice for the Shinigami to get help to take out Naruto?"

Sasuke's anger only grew massively when he saw everyone in the room raise their hands. The Haruno council women had been hesitant in doing so since she had tried to get her daughter to seduce him for years to gain the political power from such a union as well as access to his fortune left from the mostly dead Uchiha Clan, but she realized that Sasuke was not worth all the death and destruction that had befallen them from his actions and finally raised her hand as well along with the others.

"How dare you all betray me?!" seethed Sasuke through gritted teeth. He was beyond livid at this point, especially after seeing Sakura's mother of all people turn on him like this. He could only mentally curse the fact that Danzo as well as his lackeys had been killed off by Naruto because if they were here then they would have rallied the councils towards his side. But without them her to help him he was alone and not in control of the situation right now.

"Betray you," said Jiraiya with a scowl on his face, "Odd choice of words coming from you Sasuke, since you have literally betrayed this village once already. It is because of your past actions that we are in such a state of depression like we are now! When you tried to defect from our village, Naruto had to bring you back and by doing so showed us he was stronger than we wanted him to be, so he had to be eliminated before he was too strong to control. Because we killed him all the alliances and trading routes he acquired for us ended! You hurt our village's economy beyond recovery. But to make it all worse was the fact that we forgave you because of those eyes of yours which were meant to strengthen our village but in the end did nothing. We gave you what you wanted to keep you here, and when Naruto returned to save Hinata from our forced marriage to you he offered us a chance to avoid bloodshed if we just gave her up. Yet in your _infinite_ wisdom you killed her in front of him! You killed the woman he loved right before his very eyes and in retaliation he summoned the Kyuubi and caused massive destruction that killed so many!"

"And they should all be grateful to die for an Uchiha elite such as me!"

"No they shouldn't," said Tsunade as she got up and punched him in the gut before she knocked him out with a quick chop to the back of the head. "Jiraiya, make the preparations immediately. It's finally time for this little shit to die."

"Will do," said Jiraiya as he lifted Sasuke up and slung him over his shoulder. While the meeting dispersed to tell the masses what was being planned in the near future, not a single one of them noticed the raven that was outside perched on the a tree as it flew off to report back to his master…

(Land of the Dead)

Naruto had just finished making his home the way he wanted it, with soundproof walls since his clan were complaining about Hinata's screams from the constant sex she all but demanded from him. Sure they were happy that their clan member was with a woman he loved but when their late night bouts kept them up at night they started to grow pissed. So he obliged them since he wasn't an asshole.

He was at this moment hanging up a Vulgrim totem in the garden area behind his home. It had surprised Naruto to no end that even in death that Hinata had a way with nature that was only amplified with her transformation into a Horseman. It was because of her that the Tree of Life had taken root and began to grow faster than it would normally. She was also the reason that even though their continent was taken from the Land of the Dead it now flourished with green and looked more alive.

Naruto had found one of these totems while he searched the Land of the Dead for anything else that might be of use to him, and he had stumbled upon this. While Naruto was basically the Shinigami of this world being the Horseman of Death, but Vulgrim was still a merchant of souls and there was no shortage of foolish mortals who bargained them to obtain their selfish desires. And so it was always a good idea to have access to Vulgrim for whatever reason that might pop up in the future. Naruto had just finished setting things up when he saw what Dust had seen in the realm of Eden. He began to laugh to himself as Hinata walked up behind him.

"What has gotten you in such a good mood," asked Hinata as she leaned against a wall near him.

"It's just that the village has done exactly what I expected them to do after all the crap they have gone through." Said Naruto with a smirk.

"And what exactly was it that you were expecting," asked Yagura who had appeared as well to talk with his newly acquired siblings.

"It's just that after losing so much for supporting Sasuke all these years that the village has finally had enough and decided to use him as a sacrifice to try and seal me in a way that would control me."

"And they honestly believed that that would work," asked Hinata in surprise since it was a foolish idea in every way.

"They are desperate at this point," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders, "and they would try anything to protect themselves."

"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Yagura.

"Simple," said Naruto as he channeled power into his hand and blasted it at the Totem he had just set up which caused it to light up with power. "I'm gonna call on the help of an old friend."

Before the totem, a ring of blue fire appeared and out of the center of it came Vulgrim with his sinister grin on his face.

"Ah," said Vulgrim as he clicked his fingers together, "I was wondering when we would meet face to face once more spirit. Or should I say Horseman now?"

"I'm not here to speak on such matters," said Naruto with a wave of his hand, "I'm simply here to ask you a favor."

"You know that my price is a soul."

"While I would usually agree to these terms, the situation kind of negates the need for the deal."

"Oh," said Vulgrim with a hint of curiosity, "and how is that?"

"The village of Konoha is going to summon you in a vain attempt to try and control me. They have even selected someone to sacrifice to get your help."

"Truly?" asked Vulgrim with a bit of a chuckle, "they honestly believe that I have the power to gift them so they could control you? Oh the minds of such mortals, they never truly understand how things work here."

"They're idiots, you know this better than I do. You have been around for so long and dealt with numerous amounts of them throughout history."

"So what is it that you want from me exactly?" asked Vulgrim since he was genuinely curios as to what Naruto had to say here.

"Simply to give them these," said Naruto as he tossed two scrolls towards him.

"What are these?" asked Vulgrim in curiosity.

"Those are two seals I made since I knew they would try this route at one point or another," said Naruto with a grin. "The first one will lightly bind me so they will believe I am under their power when it appears that I can't move of my own volition. The second seal is essential the means to summon me since the usual way of summoning the Shinigami calls you and not me. Offer them these and get another soul out of it since you are giving them two things."

"Hmmm," said Vulgrim in thought, and he had to admit that Naruto did present a perfect opportunity here, "you make a good point, so I will do as you asked. Is that all that you require of me?"

"Yes it is," said Naruto as he began to walk away.

"Then I bid you goodbye until we meet again," said Vulgrim as he vanished in the same manner as he appeared in the first place. The flames died out immediately as he vanished.

"So what are we going to do now," asked Yagura as they followed along behind him.

"Simple," said Naruto as he opened up a portal to the realm of Eden, "we are going to recruit the last Horseman to join us."

"So who will be the person to take up the mantle of Strife?" asked Hinata as she made her way towards the portal to follow Naruto.

"All in good time," said Naruto with a smile as they all stepped through and the portal closed behind them…

(Ame)

As all this was happening, the remaining members of the Akatsuki were meeting up to discuss what they were going to do in the future. They were suffering from a major issue of the fact that all nine Biju were needed to fulfill their plan and Naruto who was alive when all reports said he was dead, they still tried to fully understand as well as grasp that bit of information, had come and stolen two of them. And now the Mizukage was killed sooner than they wanted since now with the rebels victorious they would be able to recover within a year or two.

The members that remained were arguing on what exactly to do to remedy the situation, with most of them stating that they should find Naruto and take the Biju he had by force. Others were in agreement but thought that they should capture the others first before they tried to attack Naruto as a group. Yet before they could come to any sort of consensus a portal opened up before them, and out of it came three figures with one of them being the very person that they were talking about.

"So here is where you have all hidden yourselves away from the world," said Naruto as he stood there with his arms crossed across his chest while Hinata and Yagura were more battle ready with their weapons at the ready. These were all S ranked shinobi after all so it was good to be wary of them. Naruto was more accustomed to being a Nephilim since he had been one for three years, but they were still going off of instinct here and were not fully grasping the fact that only Demonic weapons forged in Hell or angelic weapons forged in Heaven could hurt them.

"So you have come to fight us," said Pein as the other members of the Akatsuki got their weapons ready for a fight, "well you will find that we are not so easily killed."

"Hinata, Yagura," said Naruto with a sigh, "kill the others. Their souls are too dark for any form of redemption. I'll deal with these three," he said that last bit which they understood that he meant Pein, Konan, and Itachi as well.

"Will do," said Yagura as he unsheathed Chaoseater.

"I'm so gonna enjoy this very much," said Hinata as she pulled out the hilt of Scorn **(thank you user Z.L.C. genesmith for reminding me of the name since I actually forgot it while writing the last chapter)** and watched as the rest of it appeared as she whipped it around a few times. "I'll take the talking fish and the crazy priest. You take the weird looking one and the dumbass in the shadows who doesn't think we can sense him there."

"Oh," growled Kisame as he prepared to attack Hinata with his blade. He hated to be called a fish of any sort. "You are so fucking dead."

"Your death will please Jashin," said Hidan as he began to twirl his scythe on its chain. He spun it for a few more second before he threw it at Hinata, who simply tilted her head a bit to dodge it and then grabbed the chain and pulled Hidan towards her. She solidified Scorn into a full sword form and stabbed him through the chest and heart before he could do anything else. She then threw his body to the side and used Scorn to block Kisame's blade. She smirked as it extended and encircled around Samehada.

"What the hell is this!?" asked Kisame since he had never seen a blade like hers before in his life. It appeared to have a mind of its own like his blade did.

"A weapon that is quite beyond your understanding," said Hinata with a smirk as she pulsed magical power through it. Scorn began to tighten its hold on Samehada to the point where it was audibly cracking.

'What's going on? Samehada is in pain. Screaming literally in pain! What is that weapon?' thought Kisame, as he blocked another slash Hinata swiped at him and took a kick to the ribs that sent him flying back quite a bit. He got his footing back fairly quick and tried to slash at her once more, but Hinata had enough of that at this point and grabbed the blade with her bare hand. She yanked it hard enough to rip it out of Kisame's hand and threw it to the ground. Scorn then transformed into the Mallet form and she swung it down hard onto the blade. Kisame could do nothing more than cry out in protest as Samehada shattered into hundreds of pieces from the force of the blow. He would have done something else, but Hinata capitalized on his shock of losing his blade in such a fashion to shift her weapon's form once more into a Lance and speared him through the heart. If that alone wasn't enough to kill him the lightning that surged through it and electrocuted his internal organs did the trick. Kisame died with a very painful look on his face, before Hinata conjured up a fireball to burn the body to ash.

Hinata swiped her blade a few times to whip the fresh blood off of it, and was going to put it away when out of nowhere a three bladed scythe was thrown at her once again. This surprised her since she had thought that she had taken care of the priest already, but she saw him standing there with a pissed look on his face as he saw his weapon had done no physical damage to her whatsoever. Hinata just smirked as she made sure to kill him this time by wrapping Hidan up with Scorn and yanking back hard on the hilt so that it cut him to pieces. This should have been enough, but even in pieces Hidan was cursing at her with every foul word he could think up. To say that Hinata was shocked was a vast understatement since he should not be alive right now at all. But now she looked closer with her eyes to see how he was still breathing.

One of the major perks of becoming a Nephilim was the fact that she had all the abilities from her bloodline still, but her eyes now were more powerful and able to see things such as what she saw now. Hidan was tainted with demonic energy that was keeping him alive, and with her eyes she was able to see the little impish demon that was keeping him alive. It would appear that this was the so called god Jashin. Hinata had heard from Naruto that demons reveled in blood shed since they thrived on it and grew stronger when a contract was made like the one he made with Hidan. So with a simple burst of magical energy concentrated at him, Jashin exploded into goo from it. Hidan then finally succumbed to his wounds and died.

Yagura was having just as easy of a fight as Hinata was. He had slight trouble fighting against Zetsu, who had tried to remain hidden, but Yagura literally punched through the floor and grabbed the plant man by the head and pulled him up. The dark side of him quickly crawled up his arm and tried to cover him, but all this did was infuriate Yagura so he pulled out his Crossblade and threw it above him. The winds that shot out from it spinning blasted Zetsu off of him. It tried to run away to regroup with the other half, but Yagura threw out an Abyssal Chain that pierced it through the head, thus killing Kaguya's will. Yagura pulled the corpse towards him and sliced it in half before he quickly charged forward towards Kakuzu. The man ejected four of his hearts to hold Yagura down with their tendrils. Once again this only pissed off Yagura as he unleashed the power of his Abyssal form to incinerate all four hearts that held him.

He then summoned up his weapon Harvester, one of Death's first scythes, and threw it. It spun through the air towards Kakuzu while at an angle that would still hit the white side of Zetsu. Zetsu easily dodged the scythe, but was quickly killed afterwards via decapitation via Chaoseater. Kakuzu tried to dodge the weapon thrown at him, and initially succeeded since it missed him, but he was unaware of the Void Portal that Yagura opened up behind him as well as above him. His weapon went through one portal and came out the one above him, slicing him in half and destroying Kakazu's final heart, killing him.

"As you see," said Naruto as he was aware of the death around him, but then again none of their opponents had the means to kill them, "you are no threat to us, but I came here not to fight you, but simply to talk to you about the future."

Itachi wasn't one to really listen and quickly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. One activated he summoned up his Susanoo and tried to attack Naruto with his blade. Naruto simply sighed as he summoned up a spectral hand that grabbed the blade and held it in place. Pein used his Rinnegan to try and force Naruto to his knees, but that didn't work, nor did the few hundred explosive tags launched at him from Konan using her bloodline. Naruto was unfazed by all of this and simply sighed even harder when they continued to try to defeat him. As they used all in their power to try and kill him, his group finished killing their targets, and with a quick wave of his hand, they went to capture the last member of the Akatsuki who was at this moment fleeing the area since he knew that there was no hope of beating his current opponents at the moment. Naruto simply stood in place as his three opponents threw everything and anything that they could at him. Hell, Itachi even used his Amaterasu flames to try and burn him but that didn't work either.

"So are you done here," said Naruto finally as he saw the three of them heavily breathing from chakra exhaustion, "Because this is getting old. Sasuke did the same thing that Itachi just did with the end results being far more destructive. I told you I wanted to simply talk with you and it is for that reason alone that I don't strike back at you since I don't want to kill you."

"Fine," said Pein as all six of his bodies looked at him, "speak then."

"Not to one of your puppets Nagato," said Naruto as he pointed in the direction of where his real body was, "but only to the real you. So will you please come out here so we can have a civil conversation between former clan members?"

Konan left the room to go and get him while Naruto was left there alone with Itachi.

"I sense so much conflict in your mind," said Naruto as Itachi looked at him with a calculating look. "And I have to say that I understand why you are like this."

"What do you know about my problems," said Itachi with a bit of a growl which made Naruto smirk a bit since for as long as he has known him as well as heard about him being next to emotionless.

"That your entire life has been thrown out of proportion. You were loyal to a village that was corrupted beyond redemption. You were forced to pick to remain loyal to either your clan that was planning to cause a coup and enslave the people of the village in their vain views of clan superiority and a village that was has done so many horrible things to maintain their so called 'rightful' place as the strongest of the five shinobi villages. You picked what you assumed was the lesser of two evils, but in truth there was no right answer to your choice and you were cursed to pick it anyway. You spared your little brother from death in hopes that he would be your clans' redemption, but the village you protected saw fit to use him as they used you, me, and so many others over the years. They spoiled him rotten so that they could control him into becoming another you, but one they could control over time. The darkness in his heart is so black there is no possible way for him to be redeemed. His actions have doomed not just himself but have killed so many people before their time."

Itachi heard all that was being said to him, and with every detail Naruto spoke to him another tear fell from his eyes. He had wanted to redeem his clan so much and willingly became a villain just to set his plan in action. But all that he had done had crumbled due to both the corruptive nature of the village he once called home, as well as his own little brother's greed and arrogance.

"So much conflict," said Naruto as he walked around Itachi until he was behind him. He leaned in close to whisper the next words, "so much strife…"

Itachi grew angry as he heard that and attacked Naruto with a kunai, but Naruto stopped it by using two of his fingers alone.

"I am well within my rights to kill you Itachi," said Naruto with eyes that were even more emotionless than Itachi himself was ever able to show, "for those who attack Death only hasten their own. As you are now, your soul would be sent to Limbo to end wanderlessly for so long before you found your redemption, but I have an offer for you to help make this all right."

Itachi looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Naruto said that.

"A long time ago, there were four powerful beings known as the Horsemen who kept balance in the universe. But an event known as the Apocalypse occurred and the Horsemen died in the end. With their death, the balance of the universe unraveled and there was no form of order. But with my death, I became reborn as the first of the Horsemen known as Death. In time I have found two others to replace the others, but there is still one we need to fill in the position."

"And what position is that?"

"The Horseman of Strife," said Naruto as he pulled out Mercy and Redemption and held them out towards Itachi. "You always dreamed of helping maintain balance, and now I am offering you a chance to do just that. So will you join us, brother?"

Itachi looked at the weapons that Naruto was holding out, and honestly considered the offer that was given to him. It took a minute for him to decide, but in the end he took them from Naruto. Itachi felt power flow through his body as he transformed into the last of the Nephilim. His body became covered in gray metallic armor that once was worn by the former Strife. His new outfit was complete when the helmet formed in his hand and he donned it on his face, and as he did his eyes changed color from red to gold. Itachi then took his pistols and twirled them for a bit before he holstered them. He then walked through the portal that Naruto opened for him to walk through, and as the portal closed up Konan returned with Nagato.

"Where did Itachi go," asked Nagato weakly as he saw that only Naruto remained in the room.

"He took up an offer I gave him," said Naruto as he smiled, "and with him doing so helped to set the balance in order. But that is not of your concern Nagato."

"Then what exactly is it that you have come to talk with me about?" asked Nagato who was genuinely curious about what he wanted from him. But before his question could be answered, Hinata and Yagura returned with their target wrapped up and bound with chains. The man they had bound was none other than Obito Uchiha.

"Unhand me this instant," he said as he struggled to break free from the chains that bound him.

"Obito Uchiha," scowled Naruto as he looked at the man who started his life of hell with his actions years ago. Obito's attack on his parents set in motion their deaths, thus robbing him of genuine caretakers and left him in the hands of people who ether hated his guts for what was sealed within or people who wanted nothing more than to make him a weapon. "You have caused me to live a life of hell that words lack the means of explaining."

"And I would do it all again," growled Obito as he glared at Naruto, "for I would do anything to have my Rin back!"

"You see, I hate you with every fiber of my being for the fact that your actions caused me to suffer for so long in life and I would like nothing more than to end your life right here and now. But I'm not going to since to be honest I should thank you."

When Naruto said that last bit, it caused Obito to look at him with a bit of confusion since that was not something he expected to hear in this situation.

"Because I suffered as I did and died when I did, I was reborn into what you see before you with the power to fix the balance of this world. And it is with this power that I am able to see your very soul, and from what I have seen we are more alike than you could imagine."

"And just how in the hell could we be similar in any way?"

"We both would do anything for the ones we love. You were willing to kill so many for yours, and I came back from death itself to save my own precious person. You have done so many terrible things in your life, but even so your soul is capable of redemption."

Obito's eyes opened wide in shock as he heard this. He had feared that after all done in his life he was doomed for an eternity in hell, but to hear that he still had a chance gave him hope for the future.

"So you wish to be with your loved one once more Obito, than seek your redemption. End this quest of yours to force everyone into an illusion just so you can be with her. Find a new path so that when you die you can ascend instead of fall. This is your one and only chance to see Rin once more, and she hopes you take it."

Obito looked down as the tears fell from his one good eye, but he looked up and nodded in understanding. The chains that bound him fell off and he got back to his feet. He politely bowed towards Naruto and then left to start a new life for himself, one free of all the hate he once possessed. Naruto would not see him again for years to come since he would die an old man…

"And then there were two," said Naruto as he looked at Nagato and Konan.

"If Obito did such horrible things as you claimed," Asked Konan, "then why did you let him go like that?"

"Because I am Death I am neither good nor evil. I take all who perish despite what they have done. When someone is worthy of redemption I give them the chance to achieve it since they deserve it. Only those whose souls are blackened do I kill personally. Fortunate for the two of you, you are not like that so I have come with an offer like I made with the Uchiha."

"And what offer is that?"

"Like Obito you both have done horrible things, but you did it in the name of peace so there is not much darkness to weigh down your souls. So I offer you the chance to change your ways to live a life worth living. Restart our clan and love them like we were known to do. If you promise me that you will abandon this pointless mission than I can offer you an item that will heal you so you no longer need the device you are stuck in."

"And what item could possibly heal me of this," asked Nagato in genuine curiosity.

"This," said Naruto as he held out a glowing green flask and tossed it towards them, to which Konan caught it, "this is a health potion, one that will heal you pack to pristine health."

"And why should we believe you," asked Konan, "Since you claim to be Death itself why would you offer something that heals us?"

"Because I didn't make the damn thing. Nagato's parents are the ones who brewed it with their son in mind as they did. They know what you have gone through as well as done and wanted to help you so your soul doesn't become blackened over time."

"My parents made this," whispered Nagato as he grabbed the flask for himself.

"Indeed they did," said Naruto as he opened a portal back to his home, "and whether or not you take it is your choice. Your life is your own to live, but I as well as the rest of our clan hopes you live on to carry our memory. You are the last Uzumaki to exist. There was another young woman, but Orochimaru got his hands on her and she died on his operating table in his vain attempt to use her genetics to obtain immortality. So do what you wish Nagato, but we hope you make the right choice."

Naruto walked through the portal followed by Yagura as well as Hinata after he said that, with it closing up behind him. All that was left was Konan and Nagato who looked at the flask given to them and wondered on what to do…

(A/N: There we go, another chapter finally done. It's probably not the best chapter, but more of a filler with some details of what is happening all over. Major events such as these take time and I like to describe them in detail to set the stage. Just a heads up but the next chapter is the last one so, just FYI. Until next time!)


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